No One
by monkeycrunch88
Summary: No one wanted him. No one acknoledged him. No one knew him. But one day, someone adopted him. Watch Naruto as he grows up with the care of a father. This story MIGHT not follow the regular plotline.
1. The Interrogator

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Author's Note: I don't answer reviews directly. Look in the story for answers. Not everthing is in detail.

Warning: This is not the typical Naruto fic. I wont be following the manga. This is just going to be about how Naruyo grows up. So there might be an Orochimaru, there might not. But, I plan to make a unique story if I can. If not I MIGHT follow the original plotline.

Chapter1: The Interrogator

Have you ever felt that it was just going to be one of those days? The kind of days where you just know that your life will never be the same ever again. It's called intuition. An innate ability that many people are born with. Though some choose to ignore this 'sixth sense.' The sensation of knowing that the path you set for life seems to now have a detour or a big bump in the rode. Have you ever had one of those days?

Sadly, this was one of those days for twenty year old Jounin, Morino Ibiki.

The Hokage had requested his presence personally and considering this was supposedly the most powerful person in the village, who wouldn't be a little jittery? For a man that was supposedly the best interrogator in the village, he was awfully nervous. He couldn't help but shake of the feeling of dread as he walked up to the Hokage Tower.

Ibiki entered the walked towards the front counter where Ebisu was currently a temporary secretary for the Hokage. Adjusting his bandana slightly to cover the scars on his head he casually walked up to the front desk, his intimidating demeanor back in full throttle as he plastered a scowl onto his face.

Noticing that the "special" jounin behind the counter had not realized that he was there he cleared his throat rather loudly to get the other's attention. Ebisu jumped in surprise and paled slightly as he looked up at the hulking form of the larger man before him.

"I-Ibiki…" said a stuttering Ebisu.

This only proved to darken the scowl on the scarred face. He knew he was intimidating, but a jounin such as Ebisu should at least show a bit more backbone. Ibiki rolled his eyes at the other man's cowardice.

" I believe I have an appointment with the Hokage at this time," he said in a slightly irritated voice. He never really did like the Hokage suck-up, Ebisu just seemed to get on his nerves rather easily. And considering the man now looked like he was about to melt into a puddle of mush out of fear didn't exactly help Ibiki's dislike of him.

"Err..umm..y-yes," said a chibified Ebisu as Ibiki glowered down at him," the Hokage is now e-expecting you. P-please go right ahead."

Ibiki nodded and walked down the left corridow that Ebisu had pointed to. But, not before letting of a wave of killing intent directed at the secretary which caused him to cower behind his papers and desk.

He approached the door and gave it three quick taps.

Knock knock knock

"Come in," said an elderly voice from inside the room.

Ibiki entered to find old man Hokage staring out of his window to the shadow encased streets of Konoha at night. He was puffing a pipe in his mouth and had a very solemn expression on his face. A chill ran down Ibiki's spine at the feeling of depression within the room.

"I've lost quite a bit or respect towards a majority of the people in this village," said the Hokage to no one in particular. He turned towards the Jounin in his office and gestured for him to take a seat.

"No thank you Hokage-sama," he refused politely," I prefer to stand."

The Hokage simply shrugged and took a seat for himself. He took a deep breath of his pipe and released the smoke through his nose before turning once again to Ibiki. He gave the Jounin a long analytical look which gave Ibiki the impression of being on display in front of a department store.

"You must be wondering why I had asked you here," began the Hokage.

Ibiki nodded.

"I believe you have heard about Uzumaki Naruto, the child whom the fourth had sealed the demon fox Kyuubi within?"

The Jounin simply nodded once again, not understanding where this was leading up to.

" Tell me Ibiki, what exactly is your personal opinion of the boy," said the Third, with a scrutinizing look.

Ibiki stared wide eyed for a moment, to be honest, he hadn't really thought much about the little blonde boy since the attack.

"Well," he began, as if knowing exactly how to answer the question," I believe that he is every bit the hero the Fourth believed he should be treated. For a child so young with a large burden is nothing short of a miracle to me. I believe that he could become great someday."

"Do you truly believe that?"

Ibiki gave a slow nod. Still in confusion as to what the Hokage wanted from him.

"Then follow me," without another word, the Hokage stood and exited the door. Ibiki quickly followed as they went down the hall and past Ebisu's desk. This time,the went through the right hallway and went to the very back of the hall. The door led to one of the infirmaries for injured shinobi in battle.

Ibiki looked down at the Hokage in slight confusion. The Third tookout a key from the pockets within his robes and unlocked the door, slowly opening it with a creak of the hinges.

The village leader gestured for Ibiki to enter the dimly lit room with no windows. There, on a hospital bed lay a little blonde boy, who seemed to have been beaten beyond recognition.

"N-Naruto," stuttered Ibiki as he examined the boy's physical state. His left eyes was swollen shut and his right arm seems to have been broken in three places, it was now being held by a sling to keep him from moving it. There were deep cuts on his arms and legs, marks that could have only been made by kunai or shurinken. Tubes were placed into the boy's body to provide him with nourishment as his body attempted to recuperate.  
Needless to say, the little fox vessel was a bloody mess.

Ibiki attempted to walk up to the boy, but the Hokage held up a hand to stop him.

"He was much worse when we found him," he said sadly, looking down at the slowly healing figure," if it weren't for the Kyuubi enhancing his healing abilities he'd most likely be dead."

Ibiki continued to stare," H-how did this happen?"

"Naruto was apparently going to begin his shinobi training at the academy today. He had quite a difficult time according to Umino Iruka, he said that the parents pushed him away from their children and the children, seeing this, began to laugh at him."

"But how could it lead to this," he gestured to Naruto.

"I'm getting there. Apparently, someone missed the little memo I sent out about aggressive behavior towards Naruto. Mizuki-san waited until all the other children had left and lured Naruto into the forests by tempting him with learning a jutsu. But instead, he'd attacked him and left him for dead. The only reason we'd found Naruto was because Iruka had decided to follow them. Mizuki had been excecuted."

"What does this have to do with me?" Ibiki asked suspiciously.

"This attack has made me somewhat wary to allowing Naruto to live by himself. I have asked several of the clans in our village to see if they were willing to take him in. Sadly, none of them have accepted the child," he said, looking at Naruto with pity," they either do not want him, fear that aggression will be directed towards their own children,or just have too many people to care for such as the Hyuuga. Not one family was willing to take him in."

"No one?" Ibiki asked, bewildered.

"No one."

The Jounin looked towards the sleepig form sadly.

"This is why I have asked you to come here," said the Hokage," if you are willing, and if you are able, I wish that you would be willing to adopt Naruto as your own son."

Ibiki began to stutter, but before he could say anything-

"I realize that you are only twenty and that taking care of a five year old won't be easy, but you are the only one I can trust. You are one of the few that see him as the hero he truly is. Kakashi wouldn't have been a very good example for the child with his books and tardiness. Iruka had been willing, but the money of the teacher just isn't enough to support a child such as Naruto."

Ibiki looked at the Hokage in amazement. The Third had just asked him to adopt a five year old. And not just any five year old, but a five year old demon vessel. He took another glance at Naruto on the bed. He had healed his face somewhat and looked rather adorable when he was asleep and not causing mayhem.

Ibiki smirked," Heh, you owe me one," he said to the Third, who simply smiled back," so, where do I sign to become Morino Naruto's father?"


	2. The Home

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, if I did, then I'd be rollin' in dough.

Author's Note: This might not follow the Naruto plotline. Pairing might or might not be done.

Chapter 2: The Home

The Hokage tapped his foot impatiently, he looked at Ibiki, sitting across from his desk. The man had just signed the forms and was now the official father of Naruto, by document anyway. The clock on the far wall was ticking and the clicks of the seconds hand seemed to get louder as time passed.

Tick tick tick.

The Third gave an exasperated sigh," Naruto should be here any minute now. You may have signed the papers, but the rest is all up to Naruto. Whether he will accept you or not is all up to him."

Ibiki gave a small nod in understanding before they both turned back to the clock. The boy was now ten minutes late. But, who could blame him, the attack hadn't exactly left the boy trusting towards very many adults.

'damn,' thought Ibiki,' where is that kid, I don't have all day.'

He was about to stand up when-

Knock knock

Two soft taps on the Hokage's door was hear. So soft that it was barely audible. The door slowly opened thinking that the silence was an invitation to enter. The light poured in from outside for the room was quite dark at the moment. There, peeking his head into the room was a five year old Naruto. The medic-nin that had brought him gave the boy a small pat on the back to encourage him into going in before slowly shutting the door behind herself, leaving the boy with two very intimidating looking men.

Ibiki looked at the boy, noting how the boy looked absolutely petrified of him. But who could blame him, Ibiki didn't exactly look like the gentlest person in to world.

"Now Naruto," said the Hokage in a kind tone," why don't you take a seat." He gestured towards the rather large chair next to Ibiki. The boys eyes flickered from the Hokage to Ibiki and back again before giving a small nod.

He slowly walked the other side and attempted to climb the chair, but to no avail. He was still rather short at the moment and could climb up the chair very easily. Ibiki smirked at the rather humorous situation, Naruto was currently attempting to climb the chair by raising his legs to the seat only to fall off and land on his bottom.

Realizing that they were wasting valuable time, Ibiki decided to help. Though he would rather have preffered to watch the little boy attempt toget up onto the chair. He picked the boy by the armpits, feeling the blonde stiffen slightly at his touch, placed his butt on the chair before taking his own seat once again.

The Hokage cleared his throat to get their attention," Well, Naruto, how are you tonight?" he asked as he looked at the now healthy boy. The powers of the Kyuubi never ceases to amaze him.

Naruto simply looked at him and gave a shrug. Apparenlty, his fear of contact with anyone was still there.

"I asked you here to give you an offer," continued the Hokage, catching Naruto's attention," I now realize that allowing you to live by yourself was a big mistake on my part. The attempt on your life had only proven that point. I have asked Ibiki here," gesturing towards the Jounin," to be your surrogate father and he has accepted the responsibility of taking care of you."

Naruto's eyes grew large as he took in the large hulking man beside him," I uhh…," his voice failing him.

"I will not force this change upon you Naruto," said the Hokage," it is entirely up to you whether you wish to live with him or not." This entire time, Ibiki had not said a word as he stared at the child that could possibly become his. It was an exciting and yet frightening feeling.

"He will be there to protect you as you go through the academy, he will be your official guardian. Now I ask you, do you wish for him to adopt you? If you say yes, then I shall give you two weeks and call you back here to see if you still wish to live with him."

Naruto nodded," I-I accept," his voice trembling slightly. He didn't exactly know what he was doing, but it was probably better than living by himself again only to be tricked by somebody else trying to kill him.

And that's how it happened. The newly adopted Naruto was now staring at a rather large house on the outskirts of town, close to the forest. Only one thought was passing through the five year olds mind as he stared at the house.

'wow, Jounins are paid well…"

The house was two stories tall. It was painted a dark green with white paint framing every window and the door was a natural wood color. Just by looking from outside you could approximate a total of about five bedrooms, not including the other rooms such as kitchens and bathroom. As they entered the house Naruto's eyes only grew larger at the wooden floors of the house. The kitchen looked to be about the size of two bedrooms and there was even a dining area, typical Japanese style, when you entered the house to the left. Who knew what else was in here?

Ibiki smirked and looked down at the gaping Naruto. Jounins were paid well, but jounins who were good at what they did were paid better. He gave the boy a small pat on the butt to push him farther into the house before walking in and closing the door behind him.

They stood at the front door for a few moments before turning to look at each other. A similar thought passing through the Jounin's and Naruto's mind,' now what?'

Considering how late it was, Ibiki quickly thought of a plan to get himself out of this awkward situation, at least for a few hours. He tapped Naruto on the shoulder and directed the boy's attention to the flight of stairs just ahead of them.

"Come on," he said huskily," I'll show you your room. It's pretty late so why don't I show you where you'll sleep."

Naruto simply nodded and followed up the wooden platforms. They made a right turn down one hallway. The doors were the typical Japanese paper doors. There were about three rooms in this hallway. The went to the farthest down on the right and slid the door open. Luckily for Ibiki, he had had a full day to prepare for the blonde's arrival and had stocked the room with all the needed items for a young boy.

As Naruto entered the room, the surprise on his face was quite evident. Not a surprise, considering the room that he had just walked into was about the same size as his old apartment. In short, the room was huge. The bed was a regular queen sized bed with dark blue sheets, gray blanket, dark blue comforter and light gray pillows. On the far wall was a window that looked out towards the forest and on the side of the window was a wooden closet.made of oak. Across from the bed were drawers. Ibiki had taken the liberty of filling the cabinets with clothing.

The necessities weren't the only things covered. Naruto may be just a fove year old boy, but he was also a ninja. To the left of the bed was a bookcase. It was filled with scrolls and books, everything from the History of Konoha to the Katon jutsus. They had originally been Ibiki's, but the kid was his now and he wanted nothing but the best. (A/N: little OOC but it's my fic, so oh well for you.) At the foot of the bed was a trunk, it had a reverse-blade sword leaning on it.Naruto was only five so he should practice with something a bit less deadly.Within the cabinets were shurinken and kunai made of pewter stone instead of the regular metal. Needless to say, the Jounin was either trying to gain the kid's favor or spoil him rotten.

Ibiki smiled inwardly and looked down at Naruto to see what he thought about it. He was surprised to see that his eyes were red and puffy, ready to bring forth a torrent of tears. Ibiki's eyes furrowed,' didn't he like it?'

He put his hand on Naruto's shoulder and asked," Hey, what's wrong?"

Even though Ibiki was speaking in a gentle tone, Naruto still flinched from the combined touch and words.

"I-it's just that," Naruto looked at him." I-I've never had so many things before, and y-you aren't going to h-hurt me like those other p-people did will y-you?" he asked. Instantly regretting his words, Naruto looked down on the floor, finding the wooden patterns very interesting all of a sudden.

Ibiki's face scowled as he looked at his newly adopted son. He kneeled down until he was at Naruto's eye level and bumped the boy's chin to make him look up.

"No," he said slowly," I'm not like those people, I am now your father, my job is to protect you from those people. And if I ever fail for any reason to fulfill that job then I hope that I die a dishonorable death. If you think your ever going to get hurt within this house then you are happily mistaken."

Naruto simply nodded as he let the words sink in, his eyes now less swollen. Ibiki went to the drawers across from the bed and took out Naruto's sleeping clothes. He changed Naruto into a simple gray shirt, slightly big for him, and blue pajama bottoms. He threw out the boys old torn clothes into the trash.

When he turned to look back at Naruto, he was surprised to find Naruto hadn't moved from the spot he had changed clothing from. He gently pushed Naruto's back, guiding him towards the large bed. He placed Naruto on the bed and draped the blankets over him. Ibiki then leaned over to switch off the lamp that rested on a small table beside the bed, but as he leaned over Naruto wrapped his arms around Ibiki's neck and hugged him. What else was the Jounin to do but return the hug.

Neither said a word when they parted. Ibiki switched the lights off and walked towards the door. As he was about to leave the room, he turned back towards Naruto.

"G'night, musuko-san (son)…"

He didn't expect a reply, considering Nnaruto's breathing was now slow and steady. But as he slowly slid the door close behind him, he distinctely heard a-  
"Goodnight outo-san (father)…"

Author's Note: REVIEW!


	3. The Academy

Disclaimer: I don't own it, now leave me alone.

Thanks to all my reviewers, Please continue to RandR.

Chapter 3: The Academy

Six years later…

'Feh, I can't believe they're going to let someone join the academy this late. We've only got one year left and suddenly this guy just pops in without working his ass of like the rest of us,' thought a boy with a jacket that had fur on the rim of his hood.

He looked up at his dog Akamaru sitting on his head and sighed. He listened to his teacher, Iruka-sensei, droll on and on about things that he probably wouldn't use ever again. Things such as how you rank higher in the village and how to hide yourself efficiently.

'Heh, with my tracking skills I won't need to hide, I'll be the one looking for enemies,' Kiba thought cockily. He looked down at the classes current number one rookie, they were only eleven so there was still time to change that fact. Uchiha Sasuke, the class heart throb, considered most skilled shinobi in the academy.

He pisses Kiba off.

Iruka continued to talk, even he found his speech boring,' where the hell is the new student, I want to get this over with too!' he thought as he looked at the lethargic and bored expressions of his students. He sighed and continued on," and that was how the Second Hokage created a new jutsu called-"

_Knock knock_

'YES!' every person in the room thought in unison. Finally, a distraction from this mind sucking academy that we call school. The door slid open and a boy about the same age as the students walked in.

"Ah," said Iruka happily," you must be the new student. Class I'd like to introduce your new classmate Morino Uzumaki Naruto." Half of the class was unimpressed, however, the other half, the female half, was extremely impressed.

The boy that stood before them had blue eyes and blonde hair that just barely brushed over his shoulder, but that was the only way you could tell he was blonde. The rest of his head was covered by a black bandana that had a dark blue streak going down the middle. He wore s storm gray t-shirt with a black skull imprinted on the front. Black shorts that went past his knees were held in place by a white belt and he wore what seemed to be black fighting gloves. He wore the typical shinobi footwear except his went up to halfway up his calf and were black with blue on the straps.

Kiba looked down at the class since he sat at the top row. Half of the girls were beginning to salivate, as if the new student was a chunk of meat hanging outside a grocery shop. Kiba rolled his eyes along with half the male population in the class. If anyone had chosen to look close enough they would have seen a sign up sheet started by some anonymous girl in the class.

At the top of its page read' THE NARUTO FANCLUB' and in smaller writing underneath it read ' we will be having a group picnic to discuss our new bishounen and how he compares to the old one.' Needless to say, the entire display of new fangirls was disgusting.

This whole time Naruto's expression had not changed at all from his stoic attitude. Iruka sensing impending danger from the girls in the front row, cleared his throat," so Naruto, why don't you tell the class a little about yourself before we continue?"

A small smile tugged at Naruto's lip, Iruka was one of the few people he trusted. Eversince the incident six years ago he grew extremely wary of strangers, though he rarely showed it. Having an interrogator as a dad did have its perks, he was taught since he had been adopted to hide his emotions well. It was a way to show strength in character, said Ibiki, to not let your emotions overrule what people think about you. Let them judge you on your character.

Naruto gave a simple glance towards Iruka before turning back to the class," My name is Morino Uzumaki Naruto. Morino because I had been adopted when I was five by my father, Morino Ibiki, at age five. My preference of fighting is unorthodox weaponery, I had been taught the basics already since I had been home schooled most of my life due to an incident six years ago."

Most of the students were wondering about the incident while Iruka simply smiled," Why don't you take your seat Naruto..erm…over there, beside Kiba." Kiba inwardly groaned, he didn't want to sit next to a guy with a fanclub. That's why he avoided Sasuke; Naruto might be just as arrogant as the last Uchiha.

The dog boy however, was greatly surprised when Naruto walked up the stairs, ignoring the notes girls were trying to pass to him. He simply sat down and offered his hand to Kiba in a hand shake. Kiba raised an eyebrow suspiciously before grasping the hand into his own.

"Morino Naruto," said the blonde, introducing himself.

"Inuzuka Kiba," he replied. Maybe, just maybe, the blonde wasn't as stuck up as he thought he would be. A second surpise occurred when Akamaru jumped off his head and landed on Naruto's lap before proceeding to lick the other boy's face. Nnaruto gave a miniscule grin before handing the dog gently back to Kiba, he turned back towards Iruka.

Unbeknownst to either of the two, they had just made a new friend.

The day proceeded on as usual, the excitement of introducing a new student. A small pile of notes sat on the corner of where Naruto sat, steadily growing larger. A large quantity from his newly formed fanclub, but a small potion were from guys who thought he was cool and wanted to be buddies. Kiba smirked slightly at the increasing pile and began tapping his pencil in a rhythm on his desk, hoping that Naruto understood Morse code.

_You know, they wouldn't keep sending you notes of you didn't act like the Uchiha-teme over there._

Luckliy for him, Naruto did and responded back in turn by tapping his index finger onto the table lightly so as not to be heard.

_As if, he looks like he has a kunai rammed up his butt. I do this because that's how I was raised._

Kiba smirked, liking the attitude the blonde gave off without even changing his facial expression. Shikamaru, who sat in front of Kiba snorted slightly, understanding what all the tapping behind him was all about, completely agreeing with Naruto's comment. He gave a few taps of his own in response to Naruto's comment.

_Agreed._

The rest of the class period the three students could be seen either tapping a finger, a pencil or tapping their feet. Surprisingly nobody noticed the private conversation in the back of the rooms.

"Naruto."

Hearing his name called he immediately stopped tapping and looked up at Iruka. Trying not to look surprised he said in a monotone voice," Hai sensei?"

"Can you please summarize what exactly chakra is?" he asked," before we end the class to go home."

Wanting to go home as much as the other students he immediately answered," Chakra is the combination of mental and physical energies. In effect, all the arts and techniques of shinobi are born of a combination of those two energies, brought forth from the body and the spirit- in what is called 'manipulating the chakras'- and focused in the mystic process known as 'weaving the sign' or handseals."

Iruka blinked in surprise while a certain Uchiha in the corner twitched slightly. A slow smile occurred on the Chuunin's face," Well done Naruto," he said enthusiastically," that was a Chuunin level analysis of chakra and chakra manipulation."

Kiba glanced over at his friend,' I feel like eating, maybe we should eat when we get out.'

Shikamaru looked over his shoulder,' I wonder is he's any good at shogi.'

About an hour after class, the three academy students could be found at Ichikaru ramen stand. Kiba had asked Naruto to see if he wanted to go and eat before going home. His neutral expression dropping slightly, he gave a small smile before nodding. Kkiba had invited Shikamaru along in which he gladly agredd with a yawn.

"I don't see what's so fun about this game," said Kiba with a bored expression on his face. His finished bowl of ramen sitting on the side as he watched Shikamaru and Naruto play shogi, for two hours straight.

"You wouldn't," said Shikamaru under his breath. Unfortunately, Kiba had a strong sense of hearing and had heard every word. But, before he could retort, Naruto spoke up.

"Kiba," he said with a bit more animation than he had in the classroom," when hunter dogs are trained, how exactly are they taught to capture an enemy?"

"Simple," he said," the dogs would surround the enemy and if reinforcements are required then more dogs are sent in." He spoke as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Exactly, they surround," said Naruto, not taking his eyes of the game," think of a game of shogi as the same thing, the goal of the game is to surround your enemy in order to gain territory, reinforcements are when you attach another stone onto the board. But, since there are a set of rules to abide by, it just makes it that much more difficult to win. That's what outo-san taught me, if you can't understand something try looking at it from a new perspective."

Girls who had snuck in to look at the new guy swooned in their seats. Cool attitude with a brain to boot. What else could a girl ask for? Several of them attempted to throw notes to Naruto, but Akamaru kept on jumping up and catching them. Think they were for him to play with.

He continued to attach stones onto the board as Kiba looked over his shoulder, suddenly growing a bit more interest in the game.

'Yes, this school year will be interesting,' thought Kiba, as he looked at Naruto,' just hope he's up to the challenge of kicking the Uchiha of his high horse.'

Shikamaru's thoughts however were on a different subject,' I wonder how he feels about cloud watching.'


	4. The Genin Exam

Disclaimer: I don't own it, now let me mourn in piece.

Wow, this has got to be the longest chapter that I have ever written in my life. Please enjoy it. I was really getting into the story that I totally forgot about time. Don't expect this much cause I don't know if I could do this all the time.

Chapter 4: Genin Exam

_Flashback:_

_One year after his adoption, a six year old Naruto was looking at his dad with a look of disbelief. "Neh, Outo-san, are you sure?" he asked worriedly. Ibiki looked at Naruto straight in the eye before smirking. They were currently beside a stream near their house and Ibiki was sitting on a rock near the water. Naruto simply stood._

"_Positive, I want you to try as hard as you can to piss me off. This will be part of your training today. I'll show you how to keep your emotions in check and considering anger is one of the most difficult emotions to hide, we'll start with that one."_

"_So I can do anything I want and you won't get mad? You're just going to sit on that rock?" asked Naruto smiling slightly at all the things he could do to his father._

"_Yep," he said, his face went completely neutral," now let's begin."_

_Naruto shrugged and picked up a small rock beside him and chucked it at Ibiki's head. it simply bounced off and the Jounin did so much as bat an eyelash. Think he needed to do more drastic things he went to the river bed._

_He waded in slightly before reaching in and pulling out a fish with fat lips. He walked back to Ibiki, fish still in his grasp, and plopped the fish in front of the Jounin's face. With one push the fish was sucking face with his father. The fish flailed at the indecency of the act and Ibiki hadn't even opened his eyes this whole time._

_For the next hour Naruto tried every thing he could think of to get his dad mad at him. He drew naked women on the mans face, stuck twigs up his nose, and after the first half hour he'd even peed on the Jounin's leg. And yet, nothing. Not so much as a 'nice try Naruto' or even a 'this is disgusting Naruto.'_

_The blonde plopped onto the ground, crossing his arms and pouted. He looked at Ibiki._

'_What the hell would get him mad? He promise to teach me how to do Kage Bunshin if I got him to do something.' Looking back over his shoulder to Ibiki, a sinister smile made its way across the once innocent face._

_He was about to do something diabolical, something evil, something no man should experience in his entire life. Taking a few steps back, Naruto began running at top speed towards Ibiki, when he got close enough he jumped into the air, aimed his right leg down and headed straight towards Ibiki's-_

"_If you aim there I'll ground you for two months," the Jounin said, opening one eye to look at Naruto, who was aiming towards his genitals. "Uwaahh!" Unable to stop, Naruto pulled his leg back and twisted his body so that he ended up landing on Ibiki's lap instead of the kick that he had intended._

_Naruto sat on the man's lap and crossed his arms," Hmph, you said I could do ANYTHING," he pointed accusingly, accentuating the 'anything.' _

"_Well, I simply thought that it was already established not to hit there."_

"_Fine, but-NARUTO!"_

_End Flashback_

"NARUTO!"

The said person's eyes snapped open upon hearing his name being called. Kiba was currently standing over him with a very annoyed look on his face. Naruto raised one of his eyebrows mentally, while Shikamaru simply rolled onto his side so that his face was towards the grass. They had been cloud watching while Kiba had played with Akamaru.

"Wow," Chouji said through a mouthful of ships," I didn't know he could be that loud."

Naruto had met Chouji when Shikamaru had introduced the two of them last year when he had first come to the academy. The other blonde boy had been extremely fat when they had first met. Not as much anymore, he was about half the size he was before, he still ate a lot, but at least they had been able to convince him to switch to 90 fat free chips.

Kiba gave an irritated look towards the trees and to the fence surrounding the grass area they were currently in. "Can we please move to another area?" he asked pleadingly," your fangirls have doubled in the past half hour."

No joke, they could all sense the girls hiding. Behind the trees or up in the foliage. One of them had even hidden in the late in front of them with a straw sticking out of her mouth for air. How she got in without them noticing was a complete mystery.

Naruto sat up without saying a word and pointed his head in the direction of a new dango shop that had opened up recently. The other three immediately understood and began walking with him.

"You know," Shikamaru began, his hand behind his head in a lazy pose," they wouldn't follow you around if you'd show some enthusiasm to more things. I think they find that neutral expression attractive for some reason."

"Yeah," said Kiba, throwing his arm over Naruto and using his other arm to give the blonde head a noogie," we've got our own Uchiha carbon copy."

"Don't call me that," said Naruto with an annoyed look," I can be enthusiastic, it just depends on what there is to be enthusiastic about."

"Like ramen?" asked Chouji, reaching into his bag for a chip, recalling how much ramen Naruto ate when he said he would treat them to lunch.

The blonde didn't answer as they entered the shop and took their seats. This dango stand had the best dango in the village (A/N: I know, I'm being redundant, but humor me). Iit looked just like the Ichikaru ramen except slightly smaller and they only had a limited supply of ramen.

They took their seats and ordered their food.

"Neh, Naruto," said Kiba, catching the blonde's attention," you ready for the genin exam tomorrow?"

"Sure," he said with a shrug.

A few hours later, it was beginning to get pretty late. The four said goodbye and headed off towards their respective homes. Naruto began walking the long rode back to his house, upon his arrival he found the house to be completely empty. He wasn't surprised, Ibiki was one of the top Jounin in the village and had been sent out on a mission for about a week. The man was probably 'interrogating/torturing' somebody right now and having a blast.

Going farther down the hallway, Naruto made a left turn until he reached the dojo attached to the house. On the walls of the dojo hung weaponery of all kind, everything from the simplest kunai to the largest mallet he had ever seen.

Ever since he could remember, he had always had a passion for fighting styles that were barely used. He found the unpredictability of the styles to be highly appealing. He never really did like to conform well to society. He took down a chain sickle on the wall and began to practice with it.

His movements were so well coordinated that you'd think that he was dancing or putting on a show. Naruto sliced through every practice dummy set up in the room as if they were paper, recalling the sickle back easily back tugging at its chain and catching it by the handle.

The next morning…

All was calm in the village of Konoha; birds were chirping, the sun was shining, the shopkeepers were opening up their stands," GET THE #$ OUT OF MY WAY!"

And the fangirls were screeching. Okay, so it wasn't all that calm in Konoha.

Half the academy female population was-

"GET OUR OF MY WAY YOU WHORE!"

"YOU GET OUT OF MY WAY"

"I'M SITTING NEXT TO NARUTO-KUN!"

"NO I AM!"

While the other half was-

"I'M GETTING THAT SEAT YOU SLUT!"

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A SLUT!"

"I'M SITTING NEXT TO SASUKE-KUN YOU TRAMPS!"

"GET OFF!"

As the said fangirls entered the room, half were sadly disappointed to find that Naruto was at his usual seat in the back surrounded by Kiba and Chouji, with Shikamaru to the left of Chouji. The Uchiha, however, was less fortunate, having not made friends since he found they held him back, he had nobody to protect him. He sat in the last seat on the desk making only one available seat.

The girls growled, and clawed, and eventually started using weaponry. Eventually, one girl won over, somebody named Haruno Sakura. She wasn't the smartest girl in the class for nothing. She had waited for the fight to begin and silently snuck by while the other girls were distracted and took her seat and glomped onto the brunette for dear life.

It was a disgusting display of the human courtship rituals.

Iruka walked through the class carrying a box full of new shinobi headbands. The class immediately quieted down after they saw what was in the open box. Iruka smiled,' wow, this is the first time they're quiet AND awake at the same time.' Eventually, he found the silence to be somewhat disturbing considering quite a few of the students were no longer blinking but listening intently to see if he had anything to say.

"All right class, if you'd all follow me, we will now commence with the genin examination," he said before walking back out with the box. The class quickly followed with Naruto and his friends in the back.

When they reached the empty grass area, used for target practice, behind the school Iruka spoke again. "I have all told you two weeks ago that the genin exam would be different this year. The assignment was to learn one technique outside of the academy standards in order to pass. Remember, family jutsus are allowed in this examination."

And that's exactly what most students did. Shikamaru and Chouji had chosen their family's standard jutsus abilities while Kiba had been taugh by Naruto to learn how to incapacitate an opponent with pressure points.

One by one students received their headbands until there were only two left, Naruto and Sasuke. Sasuke glared at the blonde through the corner of his eye, he considered the Naruto a worthy rival even though he didn't really like him. He did, however, appreciate the fact that half of his fangirls have left him alone.

"Naruto, Sasuke," addressed Iruka," you two are the top of your class, now it's time to decide who will be this year's number one Rookie and receive this scroll for a Raiton jutsu." He took out a yellow scroll with the Kanji for lightning emblazoned onto it.

Two solid concrete blocks were placed in front of each boy. Sasuke looked slightly anxious, but attempted not to show it while Naruto simply yawned, a habit he had picked up from Shikamaru. "You two are to use any jutsu you want to destroy the block. Whoever does the job most efficiently and effectively will gain the title of Rookie of the Year. Sasuke, you're first."

Sasuke smirked and faced the block of cement. Putting his hands together, he rapidly went through a series of hand seals, ending with the tiger seal. Iruka's eye's widened,' is he ready to use something like that?' His answer quickly came as Sasuke announced," Katon, Goukakyuu no Jutsu."

A giant ball of fire shot out of his mouth and headed straight towards the block. It singed the grass and hi the concrete with great force. The block didn't stand a chance, it blew into thousands of pieces as a few pieces of rubble flew into the air. A few small chunks hitting the other students who didn't notice, their moths gaping wide at the display of power.

Naruto didn't seem to be fazed by this. He simply stood there, waiting for his name to be called. As the excitement blew over, Iruka closed his gaping mouth and turned back to Naruto," Well, Naruto, it's your turn."

Naruto nodded and reached into his kunai holster and began looking for something. Most of the students were expecting a scroll of some type. Or maybe even a special weapon. They were sadly disappointed to find that it had been a-

a fan?

"Huh?" most of the students asked. Iruka looked at Naruto questioningly before shrugging his shoulders. After all, only a ninja could turn everyday household items into a deadly weapon, so who knows. Naruto snapped the fan open to reveal a kanji for wind imprinted on the fan. He waited for his signal.

"Begin."

Naruto did't do handseals, he simply said his words," Fuuton-"

'Kazeton? Wind to break down a concrete block?' thought Iruka, looking at his students, they had the same questioning look on their faces. What was Naruto doing?

"-Tsugiu no Mai (Dance of Blades)" Naruto jumped backwards and while in the air swung the fan in the direction on the block. Nothing happened. 'What is he doing? Fanning the rock to cool it off?' thought Sasuke smugly.

"Ahh..Naruto," said Iruka," what are you-"

He was cut off, for at that moment the concrete block began to crumble. Not into little pieces of random shapes, but into perfect little squares. _A belated reaction?_ Naruto walked back to where Kiba stood, who was smiling at his friend.

"Ano..Naruto, what was that about?" asked Iruka," I've never seen a jutsu like that before."

"It's a wind style," said Naruto," I forced chakra into the fan and when I swung it, chakra was poured into the air, so hand seals are not necessary. When swung into a general direction the air will align themselves into invisible blades so sharp that its point is only one molecule thick. It makes no sound and invisible. You said efficiently and effectively, so I figured something that didn't involve blowing up would be a good choice."

Many of the girls were swooning as he talked, considering this is the most he had said anything in the past year. Iruka grinned as Sasuke scowled.

"Then I declare this year's rooki of the year Morino Naruto!" many of the class cheered, while the Sasuke fanclub mourned. Naruto was handed the Raiton jutsu scroll and the class headed back to their room. Tommorrow they would be told their team and sensei assignments.


	5. The Teams

Disclaimer: I'm depressed, take a guess why.

Hey, thank to everyone who reviewed. I'm really surprised this fic is actually this popular. I hope you guys continue to review so that I can continue to update. (Hint hint)

Chapter 5: The Teams

"Checkmate." 

Kiba ran his hands through his hair and began clawing at his head. In a vain attempt to get at his brain for failing him once again. "Damn it Naruto, that's the fifth time in a row this morning."

Kiba had come over to Naruto's house the other day for a quick spar, but it had begun to rain so he had ended up spending the night over. Classes were to start late today because Iruka didn't have any lessons planned since they had just graduated. Shikamaru was probably still asleep and Chouji was more than likely 'attempting' to eat healthy while on the treadmill.

"Feh, it's not my fault you can't figure out how to win," said Naruto," I even left my king wide open for you and you still didn't take it." Kiba growled while Akamaru remained asleep on his head. 

"Maybe you should just stick to training dogs," said a voice behind them. They turned to find Ibiki leaning on Naruto's doorway with a smirk on his face. Kiba scowled while Naruto had a confused expression on his face.

"Neh, Tou-san, don't you have work today?" he asked.

"Nope, it's my day off so I plan to go to several bars and get drunk with a few friends," he said with a smirk.

"Just don't accidentally get married again like last time," said Naruto, recalling a time his father had gotten drunk and had accidentally married Anko under the influence," I don't want to have a mother for only one day again before getting it annulled." 

"You got married? While drunk?" Kiba asked incredulously, mentally poking fun at Ibiki.

This time, it was Ibiki's turn to scowl," say one word of this and I'll have you and your dog neutered at the same time," he said while radiating killing intent. Kiba immediately froze with fear; a small whimper could be heard from his throat. After Ibiki left Kiba spoke again.

"How does he do that?" he asked.

"Do what?" replied Naruto.

"Scare the shit out of me by just looking."

"Oh that," he realized," killing intent is like pure raw chakra, it's like an animal instinct. You know how deers can somehow sense when danger is nearby. Well, killing intent work the same way with us. When we sense that there is danger our natural reflex is to either run or hide, but if the killing intent were strong enough, you could immobilize an opponent with pure fear."

"Hmmm…" said Kiba thoughtfully," that sounds interesting. Do you think I could learn to do it."

"Yes, I know how."

"Really!" he said excitedly. "Yep, but not now, we have class to get to," said Naruto impassively. Looking like he didn't care was hard work because in this sense he was just like Shikamaru, he would have complained about going to school and just gone to bed. Contrary to popular belief, Naruto wasn't anything like Sasuke, as some fangirls seem to think, he was more like a combo of a Sasuke like appearance with a Shikamaru like attitude. He'd sleep all day if Ibiki hadn't set five alarm clocks in his room.

The two walked towards the academy in silence. But, then again, who'd be excited to go to school even if it was the last day. They entered through the academy doors half an hour early so that Naruto could avoid his fangirls. Shikamaru was already at his seat, fast asleep. Naruto sat down to the right of him, pulling his bandana down slightly to cover his eyes and joining Shikamaru in dreamland before the teacher arrived. Kiba sat to the left and resisted poking Shikamaru in the ribs.

Surprisingly, Shikamaru was one of the villages most dangerous people when mad. Having an IQ as large as his could think up revenge quite easily if given the right motivation. And waking him up from his sleep would be considered the right motivation.

Fifteen minutes passed and Chouji arrived to find all three of his friends asleep in the back corner of the room. Kiba had fallen asleep out of pure boredom. Giving them a questioning look, he shrugged his shoulders and chose a seat close to the front in order to hear the teacher name the teams better, munching on a bag of 90 less fat Lays chips.

Another fifteen lminutes later, the class was packed with students once again, waiting for the arrival of their teacher. Each one talking excitedly about who's going to be in who's team.

"Alright class," Iruka said, walking into the classroom," here are the genin teams that you are assigned to."

"Team one will be…"

and he continued on..

"Team Six will be Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata, and Akimichi Chouji. You're sensei will be Yuuhi Kurenai."

"Team Seven will be Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and Yamanaka Ino. Your sensei is Kakashi."

Two girls could be heard squeeling in the back. They hugged each other, the two had been best friends ever since Ino had moved her crush onto Shikamaru. Everyone knew about this, that is, except Shikamaru, the oblivious genius.

"And last, Team Eight, Nara Shikamaru, Morino Naruto, and Inuzuka Kiba. Sarutobi Asuma."

Iruka frowned slightly at this group. He could swear that they had somehow set it up to be this way. Shikamaru was a genius, but was deadlast because he didn't want to do anything even though he could do them perfectly. Kiba was an average student in almost every sense except taijutsu. And Naruto, Naruto was this year's top Rookie. They balanced out perfectly. Almost, TOO perfectly.

Iruka sighed. There was nothing he could do about it now. If the groups had been a four man team, Chouji would have been a perfect candidate to be their fourth teammate, but alas. By this time Naruto, Shikamaru, and Kiba had woken upupon hearing their names being called as teammates. Neither showing any sign of surprise at the arrangements, which only furthered Iruka's suspicions of being set up.

He allowed the class to do whatever they wanted and to get acquainted to their new teammates. The Three Stooges, as Iruka refured to them mentally, were engrossed in a game of poker, with Shimamaru in the lead; currently holding about fifteen dollars. Naruto had about ten dollars, while Kiba had seven.

Knock knock

Everyone in the room turned their heads towards the door. The door slid open to reveal a rather large man with a beard and what looked to be a toothpick in his mouth. The man turned to Iruka and gave a salute, which Iruka returned in kind.

"Sarutobi Asuma, here to pick up Team Eight."

Iruka nodded and gestured for team eight to step forward. The three genin walked down the stairs, each holding their respective money. As Naruto walked down, several fangirls clung to his legs screaming for him not to leave them or to go out with them as they may never see each other again. Naruto kept a neutral expression at their antics, but instead of kicking them off as the Uchiha did on occasion, he gently reached down with his gloved hands and pried their hands off of his legs one by one before proceeding towards his new sensei. 

Asuma smirked,' Ibiki's kid seems to be quite popular.' He nodded towards his new team," meet me at Ichikaru's ramen stand in half an hour," he said before poofing away. One thought passed all three head at once,' how do they do that?'

Half an hour later, team eight sat in a booth at the ramen stand. All three sat on one side while Asuma sat on the other side. 'What a strange group.' Kiba currently had Akamaru on his head and was feeding him doggie treats, Shikamaru had his head propped on an arm and was attempting not to fall asleep into his ramen bowl, while Naruto simply sat there and stared at Asuma with the eyes of an interrogator, it was quite unnerving to look back. 'Must be something he picked up from Ibiki.'

Asuma cleared his throat, getting the attention of the two other genin in front of him,"Why don't we start by introducing ourselves?" he suggested, revieving blank stares," okay…I'll start. My name is Sarutobi Asuma, I am the Hokage's son and I have a seven year old son of my own named Konohamaru. I am a Jounin and I specialize in nothing in particular. I'm just good at what I do." He nodded towards Kiba.

"My name is Inuzuka Kiba," he said loudly," this is my friend Akamaru, whim I've had forever. I don't particularly have a dream, my pans of the future is just to take over as the head of my clan since my older sister didn't want the job. I like dogs and food. I do 't like annoying fangirls and Uchihas."

Asuma nodded before staring at Shikamaru, who gave a loud and obvious yawn." My name is Nara Shikamaru." The Jounin stared at him. The boy had simply stopped after introducing himself and attempted not to fall asleep again. Asuma cleared his throat to have the shadow user continue.

"Troublesome. I don't have any dreams. My ideal future would be to get married, have on girl and one boy in that order. I plan to be just another shinobi of this village. As sooon as the girl is married off then I'll retire to a life of shougi, sleep, and cloud watching."

'What a strange boy,' thought Asuma, he waved his had towards Naruto.

Naruto stared at him for a second before beginning," My FULL name is Morino Uzumaki Naruto, but I prefer Morino Naruto. I like learning new jutsus from my dad and eating ramen. I don't really dislike anything at the moment. My ambition for the future is to become a hunter-nin and to do some interrogation work on the side."

As soon as he finished, Asuma called for the bill and turned towards his students once again.

"Tomorrow we will be conducting a small test of your abilities. Asking me about what it is would be pointless considering even I don't know what I going to have you do. Understood?"

All three nodded in creepy unison.

"Oh and Naruto," the blonde looked at him," Your father, me and a group of friends are going out. He wanted me to ask you what you wanted him to bring home to dinner tonight. He also specified no Ramen."

The blonde growled slightly. Asuma smirked inwardly,' that's the most I've gotten out of him all day.'


	6. The Test

Disclaimer: if I owned Naruto then I'd be a very happy man. But sadly, I'm not.

I hope ya guys enjoy this chapter. It's the longest chapter I've written, I wasn't planning on having it this long, it just happened. I make things too difficult for myself sometimes. Sigh, RandR everyone. I'd really appreciate it.

Chapter Six: The Test

"Is he here yet?" asked a very annoyed Kiba, his face contorting into a frown that only achieved in making his face even more animalistic. 

"Snore" 

"Nope," said Naruto, his ever present patience faltering after half an hour of Kiba's questions. Where was their sensei? He told them to arrive at this time and he still hasn't arrived. His eyebrow twitched slightly beneath the bandana, a sure sign of his ire. Shikamaru simply continued to snore softly on the grass floor.

Poof. 

A cloud of ninja smoke appeared above Shikamaru," Yo, sorry I'm late, but I hate a meeting with the Hokage today." He looked at his two of his subordinates," Where's Shikamaru?" Both boys pointed beneath him where the Jounins foot was currently covering a very pissed Shikamaru's mouth. Asuma jumped aside, allowing the boy to get up, spit out the dirt, and dust himself off.

Shikamaru gave a grunt and walked over to his two friends. "Oy, Asuma-sensei, you said that you'd be testing us in our abilities today. What do you plan to do?"

"Good question Kiba," said Asuma," this is what I'm going to do." 

Silence. 

More silence.

Silence so eerie that a cricket could be hear.

And now silence to absolute that the wind made a small dust cloud past them.

"I still don't know," he said blantantly.

Kiba and Shikamaru fell down anime style while Naruto slumped over and sweatdropped. "What? You're the first team I've trained so forgive me if I'm a bit slow. Besides, normally that standard would be to have you take a bell test to see if you can work as a team. But, according to the profiles I received about you three from Iruka, you could already work that way. He said you helped each other in homework and were constantly seen near a lake training together. So technically, you're already a team by Konoha standards."

Kiba yelled and cheered while swinging Akamaru in the air, who barked happily. "YEAH! WERE ALREADY A TEAM AND WE DIDN'T DO A THING!" Shikamaru reached into his holster pouch, pulled out an sleep mask , placed it on his eyes and went to sleep on the ground. A soft snoozing wa heard seconds later. Naruto attempted to suppress a small smile to no avail.

'Are they really best friends,' thought the Jounin,' they're so different.'

He cleared his throat, all three looked at him, Shikamaru simply raising his sleep mask slightly to block the sun," You may already be genin by Konoha standards. But, considering I don't really want to send you home after doing nothing today, I thought we might do a little activity."

He immediately received all of their attention," Since this is my first time at this teaching thing, I thought I'd learn a few things about your abilities before we actually go on any missions. Things that you specialize in, currently. What do you say?"

They may be ninjas, one may be a sleep deprived lazy genius, another a crazy dog lover, and another a silent but intuitve rookie of the year. But, they were still boys. And they liked to show off. All three smirked slightly, a glint in their eyes that told Asuma that he was going to be needing a lot of soldier pills later on.

"So? Who'll go first?" said Asuma. Kiba raised his hand immediately. The Jounin nodded to him and they both headed down to the center of the field.

"So tell me, what do you specialize in?" asked the Jounin. "I usually specialize in my family jutsus, but I've been getting pretty good and hunting and tracking using my other senses other than my nose," said Kiba.

"It's good to be well rounded," he said," this isn't a spar, it is simply to see where you are in your current skills." Asuma pulled out a blindfold. "Let's see just how good your hearing abilities are, Inuzuka's are supposedly the best at tracking in our village so why don't we find out if it's true."

He handed the blindfold to Kiba and took out five kunai with bells attacked to the rounded end. He then threw them all at one tree going down, meaning one kunai with beneath another. "Put that blind fold and take several rocks from the ground, this game is called Echo. As soon as you hear a bell ring, throw a rock from the ground at the same bell I had just hit. I may hit more than one and you must hit them in the same order I did."

Kiba smirked at the challenge," You're on Asuma-jiji. This should be fun." He put on the blindfold while Asuma fumed silently at the old man comment. 'I'm not that old,' he thought.

Naruto and Shikamaru watched from the sidelines on a rock near the lake as Asuma took out several senbon needles. "Ready Kiba?"

"Ready," said a blind Kiba.

Asuma threw one needle, the second highest one on the tree.

cLink. 

Kiba's ear twitched slightly at the sound, he raised a rock and threw at where he knew the tree was and-

cLink. 

He hit the same bell, Kiba smirked at his small vicory as Akamaru yapped happily on Naruto's lap. 'Don't get cocky kid, I'm just getting warmed up,' thought Asuma. This time he threw three different needles consecutively. The top bell, the second to the last bell, and the middle bell.

Clink, cliNk, clInk.

The dog boy's ear twitched again. He held three rocks on his hand this time, one between each of his fingers. With nearly deadly accuracy, he threw.

Clink, cliNk, clInk.

He nailed each bell. 'Keh,' thought an amused Asuma,' the kid's good. But, lets see his try this." This time, he didn't even bother aiming at any bell. He threw all the senbon needles in his pouch at the tree. A melodious ringing could be heard from the bells, like rain falling from the sky in a pattern. Naruto and Shikamaaru had completely lost track of what needle had hit what bell at what interval.

'Can he do this?' thought Shikamaru.

"Oy, Asuma-sensei," Asuma turned to Kiba," don't underestimate my ears." Kiba turned once again to the tree. A hand full of rocks in his hand, he threw and the raining music befell upon them once again. But, he hit each not, every single drop of sound emitting from the bells were completely identical to the sound that Asuma had made. 

Kiba took off his blondfold," so? Am I good or am I good?" he asked with a smirk. "Yeah you're good," Asuma admitted," but you definitely need to pop that balloon that you call a head." Kiba frowned at the last comment.

"So, who's next?" asked Asuma, turning to the last two. Shikamaru raised his hand slightly," Might as well get this over with," he said.

"So Shika-chan," said Asuma, attempting to rile up the boy," what do you specialize in." Shikamaru's eyebrow twitched at the Shika-chan comment. Ino called him that sometimes and it annoyed the hell out of him. "I don't really specialize in anything specific other than my family jutsu. But, my best technique would have to be my Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Bind)."

Asuma nodded,' As expected, take after his dad a bit.'

"Good, then I already have a perfect test for you."

(A/N: I really wish I didn't do this, now I have t make individual tests for all of them. What a hassle.)

The Jounin motioned for Shikamaru to come closer. "Let's see just how good you are at 'binding' things into place." Shikamaru gave a small shudder at the jounin's somewhat creepy smile after his comment. They walked to the edge of the lake and Asuma had a wall of rocks behind Shikamaru with a Doton jutsu. It was approkimately ten feet wide and ten feet tall. Considering its height, it completely blocked out the sun from where Shikamaru stood creating a vast shadow that was thirty feet in front of him.

"According to your father," said Asuma," the Shadow binds power will increase if there is more shadow in the area, it could even bind things in the air as long as your shadow or a shadow that your shadow is connected to is in contact with it. Correct?"

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow suspiciously and gave a small nod. "Good, then we can get started."

Looking down at the floor, Shikamaru estimated how much shadow there was in his thirty feet since the shadow bent down at an angle. But. Before he could fully calculate it a kunai whizzed right past him and hit the wall behind him. Nearly giving him another eir piercing.

"WHAT THE HELL!"

"Hey, I said that we'd get started." He took out a few more kunai," and don't let them fall to the ground. I wanna see just how much you can bind." The boy nodded.

ZOOM.

"Kageman no Jutsu." The kunai stopped within the shadow range of the wall, which was connected to Shikamaru's shadow. Naruto and Kiba's eyes widened somewhat. They had no idea their friend could stop a kunai in midair. Shikamaru smirked.

Zoom, zoom, zoom.

Three junai at the same time flew towards Shikamaru's head. The boy began to sweat as they drew nearer to his face. They never made it. One kunai stopped just an inch away from Shikamaru's eye, another just half an inch from his throat, and the last just barely grazing his cheek.

The genin was panting heavily by now, the Kagemane no jutsu was rarely ever used to stop aerial attacks. 'Heh, the kid's as good as his old man. Let's see him try this.' Without warning or any hint about what was to happen, Asuma began forming hand seals. Shikamaru's eyes widened as he recognized the attack pattern. The Jounin stopped at the tiger seal. "KATON: Goukakyu no Jutsu!" Three fireballs about the size of a grown man's head flew out of Asuma's mouth and headed straight for Shikamaru.

One thought passed Shikamaru's head after the initial shock had worn off,' I'm gonna need a long nap after this.' He moved closer to the wall behind him until his back was against it to gain more shadow to work with. He held the last seal of his jutsu for a very long time. When the fireballs entered the wall's shadow he serperated his hands and threw them in front of himself as if to shield his body.

The fireballs froze. They still burned and they still gave the occasional crackle of energy, but they simply floated in the air, not moving. He released the jutsu, and the fireballs, having lost all momentum, fell to the ground harmlessly.

Asuma nodded in approval," You're going to makea good Shinobi one day." He turned to find Shikamaru laying against the earthly wall, fast asleep. He sweatdropped. 'What does he do to get this tires, doesn't he sleep?' Asuma giggled like a little girl, somewhat perverted thoughts passing his head.

"Naruto," he called," your turn. I was thinking that since your Ibiki's boy, we might try an interrogation technique." Naruto nodded, a glint in his eye that said that the Jounin was in for it now. Kiba snickered, knowing exactly what Naruto was about to do.

'The Jutsu he's about to do gave me a killer headache,' Kiba thought,' this is exactly why Naruto takes after his dad. No secrets can be kept long from him.'

"Ready whenever you are," said Asuma. Naruto said nothing, but he did give a smirk that he had to have learned from Ibiki. The boy walked up to the Jounin at an even pace, his left hand reaching for his right hand and slowly removing the glove. Asuma raised his eyebrow questioningly. He saw no hand seals performed, but then again. Mind jutsus that work directly at the brain don't necessarily need hand seals, most of the time.

Shikamaru had woken up to witness the event. 'Damn,' he thought,' so it's that jutsu, it's the only reason that Naruto even knew my middle name was Dorothy in the first place. Thank goodness he never told anyone.'

As soon Naruto stood face to face or face to chest, since he wasn't as tall as the man, yet. He raised his ungloved right hand and said," Konpaku no Jutsu (Art of the Soul)," and slammed his hand onto Asuma's chin.

For the first three seconds nothing happened,' is something supposed to-'

_Flash_

"_Will you go out with me?" asked a fifteen year old Asuma._

"_As soon as you get rid of that Barbie doll in your room that you call an action figure," said Kurenai of similar age," just because you gave it a hitai-ate doesn't mean it's a shinobi. _

_Flash_

_A twenty two year old Asuma waved goodbye to his wife as she walked out the door to go to work. It was his day of and Konohamaru was still asleep._

'_Good, these books better be as good as Kakashi says,' he thought,' I haven't had as much action since Konohamaru was born.' He reached and pulled up on a loose floorboard in the kitchen and took out an orange book._

_Icha Icha Paradise volume one._

_A nosebleed occurs after five minutes._

_Flash_

"_Daddy?" said a four year old Konohamaru._

"_Yeah?" he said._

"_What is 'touching' yourself?" he asked._

"_Err…_

Flash back to reality… 

Asuma was thrown back about three feet after all the mental flashbacks occurred all at once. "Wh-what does that do?" he asked, thinking he knew the answer. Naruto smirked the smirk that made him look like Ibiki so much. " Konpaku no Jutsu is something my dad invented just recently. By touching your victims head and forcing your self to suck in your chakra as far back as you can hold it, you can 'suck out' a few memories of the victims. The closer they are to the surface of the victim, the easier it is to get."

"Uh huh," said Asuma, he then began to sweat profusely and motioned for Naruto to come closer. He leaned down and whispered into Naruto's ear," Y-you're not going to be telling any of th-the things you saw right?"

Naruto gave him a speculative glance," Depends."

"Depends on what?" he asked.

"On whether you're a good teacher or not," said Naruto as he turned back to his friends," besides, this jutsu us mainly so I can get some blackmail matrial."


	7. The Memories

Disclaimer: i dont own Naruto. If i did then i'd die a very VERY happy man. RandR please

Chapter 7: The Memories

_Flashback: _

_Three weeks after his adoption, Naruto had gone into a simple daily routine. He'd wake up, eat breakfast, train a little bit, go out to play in the forest near his house, and come back home for Ibiki to come back. The Jounin was still an active interrogator and money didn't exactly grow on trees. If it did, then the blonde would be outside raking. Today started of as any other day. Naruto had woken up to the smell of breakfast and the sound of a door closing as Ibiki left the house to go to work. _

_It had only been a few weeks since his adoption and he wasn't entirely sure he was comfortable around his adoptive father. But, then again, why should he. The man was only twenty or twenty-one, but already a jounin, that kind of repertoire is somewhat intimidating. The fact that he had a scar running down his face scared the boy sometimes. Ibiki knew his new son was still uncomfortable about the situation, but he did nothing about it, he knew the boy would come around eventually. And he chose not to push the subject, he simply did what any good father would do; care. _

_Naruto made his way down the wooden steps of the house into the rather large kitchen. There on the table was his breakfast that Ibiki had already made, ramen. It wasn't the most conventional food for breakfast, but Ibiki usually made it when he was in a particular rush to get to work. Naruto had no complaints. _

_Feeling a little energetic today, Naruto gave a small yawn and stretch before running back to his room and donning on his white shirt and light blue shorts. He walked over to his cabinet and drew out a long fishing rod and a catching net. He'd decided to slack off a little today; nobody really asked him to train and Ibiki was somewhat lenient on the amount he trained as long as he didn't get lazy. But, for today, he was just going to enjoy himself. _

_Making his way down into the forests he walked through the familiar path he took to reach a river that he always fished in ever since he go here. Bucket slung over his shoulder, Naruto whipped back his fishing rod and threw the line into the river before sitting back down to enjoy his quiet moment. Within four hours, he had caught up to seven large fish and had all of them piled in his little bucket. _

_Ibiki and he would be eating fish for about a week straight. Giving a rather large smile for a five year old, Naruto scratched a back of his head. He guessed it was about two thirty and Ibiki didn't usually come home until five, so he still had a few hours to goof off. Laying his head back down Naruto began to listen peacefully to the quiet sounds of nature around him. Within ten minutes he was fast asleep with a small smile on his face. _

_Plip _

_'Huh?' thought Naruto, he put his hand to his cheek; water. Looking up to the sky he saw that it had already began to get dark and cloudy. Looking at his watch he saw that it was already six o' clock and that he should have been home an hour ago. Slightly scared that Ibiki might get mad, Naruto grabbed the fish and equipment and began walking home. Within a few minutes the small drop of rain had turned into a light drizzle, before turning into a down pour. _

_Naruto began running through the woods towards his house. Wait a minute, where was his house? Looking around frantically he recognized nothing about his surroundings. He had completely gotten off the path when he had started running. Beginning to panic, the little Naruto began running at a slightly slower pace to see if he could find the path. _

_"AAAAWWWWOOOOO!" Naruto's heart stopped; wolves. They animals didn't usually come out in the day time, but it wasn't daytime anymore, was it. 'W-where's the path?' thought a VERY scared boy. He began running again, not really caring anymore, just so long as it was the opposite direction of that howl. Naruto ran, his blonde spikes soaked. He ran faster until he tripped over a dead root, his fishing rod flew out of his little hands and the bucket of fish spattering to the ground. The rod broke as it hit the ground and the fish flopped on the wet rain floor. _

_Picking himself up; his t-shirt now muddied from the ground, and his knees slightly scraped, he walked over to a large oak tree. He sat down at its base and brought his knees to his chest, he began to shiver from the cold. Tears began running down the tanned cheeks and over his little whisker marks. He'd never cried before, but then again, he'd never had someone to cry for until now. _

_Where was Ibiki? Where was Tousan? He wanted his Tousan._

_"Naruto…." The boys ears perked, wiping his tears and listened. "Naruto!" It was louder this time, someone was calling for him."Where are you Naruto! Musuko!" It was Ibiki. Jumping to his feet he began yelling at the top of his lungs. "TOUSAN! TOUSAN!" he yelled," TOUSAN! I'M OVER HERE!" Through the pouring of the rain he could faintly see the figure of a running Jounin. _

_Trying to run to his father Naruto stepped on one of the ruined fish and fell into the mud. Ibiki, however, continued running. He picked the little boy out of the mud. "T-tousan," stuttered Naruto, his tears coming back," I-I'm sorry, I fell asleep, then I g-got lost-" Ibiki wasn't listening. "Shhhh…" the jounin said before hugging Naruto to his chest," It's alright, we'll talk about it in the morning." Realizing they were still in the rain, Ibiki removed his Jounin vest and used it to drape over Naruto's little head, before wiping a few chibi tears away. _

_Calming down slightly; Naruto shivered before taking a hold of the Jounins vest and rested his head on his dad's chest. Ibiki was slightly surpised, he hadn't gotten this much out of Naruto since the first night he came. He smiled slightly and hugged the sleeping boy on his chest. He glanced at the fish and a broken fishing rod. _

_'I'll get him a new one tomorrow,' he thought before he began walking back home with his son in his arms. _

_End Flashback _

Naruto's eyes opened after the memory. His lips curved into a small smile, causing a few girls in the neighboring ramen booths to blush slightly. "Welcome back to the world of the living," said Asuma, smirking slightly," glad of you to join us." Naruto scowled at the comment, he momentarily thought about flicking Asuma off, but that wouldn't be good etiquette. Plus, Ibiki wouldn't have a drinking buddy anymore.

The three Genin and their sensei had just gotten back from their latest mission; gardening for Mrs. Yamanaka. Ino's mom wasn't exactly the most agreeable woman in the world so though it was a D class mission, the Hokage marked it as the C class. Shikamaru was the one most uncomfortable about the situtation. The woman kept on glancing at him as if she knew something he didn't and at one points asked him what he liked in women. Obviously she was checking for Ino, but the Genin had not known this and had officially been freaked out.

Naruto cracked his neck and finished up his Sashimi before the four turned to leave. Ibiki had forbidden him to eat ramen at least twice a week. The three friend made their way out of the shop as their sensei poofed away and began walking towards Kiba's house. This family had been one of the few, along with Shikamaru's, that actually liked Naruto and treated him with respect. This only proved to the boy that he could trust the two of them about his little secret.

"So what?" said Kiba five months ago," a fox is sealed in you. You're still Naruto.  
"You're the only thing keeping us safe from it," said Shikamaru," why would we hate you?"

It was one of the few times Naruto had ever cried. Though he did threaten to maim them if they ever told anyone he was crying. The three walked through Kiba's front door. The Inuzuka clan were the best trackers in the village, they were highly influential. It was no wonder the house was ridiculously large. Though it did have a permanent smell of dogs, but that was understandable.

Kiba's mom was in the kitchen preparing a meal for their familiars, she looked like any regular woman since she married into the family. Kiba's dad, however, who was in the living room, looked like a wolf on two legs, though I may be exaggerating.

They made their way into Kiba's room as Akamaru jumped into his little doggy bed and slept. "So," said Shikamaru," Asuma-sensei said that we'd be having an upper C class mission tomorrow." They had done a few C class missions, but usually just escorts with no trouble.

"YEAH!" yelled Kiba enthusiastically," we might actually get some action this time. He said there might be a few bandits here and there and maybe a few robbers. This is gonna gre-"

"Dangerous," Naruto cut in, as he scratched his hair through his bandana.

"What do you mean?" asked Kiba. "It's an upper C class, meaning that it borders on B class. We may only encounter bandits and robbers, but danger is still danger. Our lives are at grater risk, though not by much. We may encounter more than bandits if we're not careful," said Naruto," so you better be serious tomorrow."

"Actually we have less to worry about," said Shikamaru," the Hokage assigned one other team to accompany us on this mission just incase.

"Honto?" asked Kiba," which one?"

**The next morning…**

"OHAYO SHIKA-CHAN!" yelled Ino as she made her way down to the front gate. Seeing her crush, she immediately shifted into obnoxious mode. Shikamaru's eye twitched at the nickname while Kiba whispered in his ear to think of happy thoughts. Sakura in the meantime was scooting closer to her crush, trying to get Sasuke to go out on a date with her. Naruto in the meantime, was sitting cross legged on the floor reading the Raiton Jutsu scroll he had received during the Genin exam, he had just gotten around to reading it.

'hmm…Raiton: Raitori no jutus? Looks interesting,' thought Naruto. Asuma in the meantime was smoking another cancer stick. Kakashi had been told that the mission would start at seven when it really started at nine. So he should be here about….now.

"Yo" said the silver haired Jounin as he poofed into view between Sakura and Sasuke. The pink haired girl was about to yell at him for being late before she remembered that he wasn't. "Mah," said Shikamaru," what's the mission?" He didn't sound too enthusiastic. Kiba and Sasuke looked at the Jounins expectantly while the girls did their hair. "Well, your information was accurate," said Kakashi," this definitely is a high C class mission."

Sasuke smirked in satisfaction while Kiba launched himself at Asuma's waist. "I KNEW IT!" he yelled enthusiastically as the Jounin attempted to pull him off," YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST I JUST KNEW YOU'D COME THROUGH FOR US! I LO-OUCH!" Shikamaru taken a chunk of Kiba's ear in his fingers and pulled them off their sensei hard. "I'm sure the feeling mutual," muttered Shikamaru," now I'd better get you out of here before you say something you might regret.

"Neh," said Naruto, getting everyone's attention as he rolled the scroll Sasuke was looking at longingly," so what's the mission?" He pulled his gloves tighter around his hands and readjusted his bandana. Asuma had been careful not to touch Naruto's hands again after the incident from before.

"A search and retrieve mission," said Kakashi," some Chuunin level missin-nin had stolen an antique belonging to a nobleman of Konoha. They are currently in hiding in a village. The Kage of this village has given us permission to search for the bandits."

"What village," asked Sasuke, speaking for the first time.

"Sunagakure, Hidden Village of Sand."


	8. The Other One

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

**Author's Note: I'm sorry for the long update. It's just that summer school is really draining me.**

**Warning: it's kind of a short chapter, but oh well. don't bother telling me to update sooner. I'm really busy right now with school and I'm gonna be leaving for Canada for vacation soon so I can't really update fast. I'll bring up a longer chapter when I get back. For the meantime, tootles, at least until I get back on August 13th.**

Chapter 8: The Other One

Needless to say, as their travel progressed the weather became hotter and hotter the further they went. Sure, the traveling had been fine in the beginning where they had first been surrounded by the shade of the forests, but they were headed towards the Hidden Village of Sand. It was already quite obvious that there weren't going to be very many trees where they're going. After the temperature had gotten to a certain degree, everyone had finally had enough decided to change into more weather appropriate clothing.

Kakashi and Asuma had changed into the short sleeved version of their Jounin shirts. Sasuke and Naruto had changed into loose fitting black and gray tank tops, while Kiba simply removed his extremely large jacket for a regular red t-shirt. Shikamaru already wore a net shirt and didn't really need to change because of the weather. Sakura and changed into a red tank and white shorts, while Ino simply changed into a lighter shirt. Considering everyone was carrying a large traveling back pack, this didn't help very much.

Even with the different clothing, it was still sweltering to them. Probably a side effect at having to have lived in fresh and lush forest areas most of their lives. "Asuma-sensei," said Naruto, walking next to the Jounin," how much longer until we reach Sunagakure?" The Jounin looked down at the blonde," not much longer," he said," look, there it is, just over the horizon." Everyone looked up, relieved at seeing something that had ceiling to cover them from the sun. The majority of them were already seriously sun burned.

As soon as they neared the village, Kakashi spoke," we've been walking for about three days now. The Hokage arranged for us to have a night's stay at a local inn. This isn't excactly a rush rush mission. So for today, we will rest up," he said, looking at their sweat stained faces," and tomorrow we will finish out mission and head back home." After hearing this, the girls gave each other a high five and everyone began to quicken their pace towards the village gates.

Flashing their passes and mission details to the gaurds, the Genin allowed Kakashi to lead them towards their inn. While Asuma headed for the Kazekage's tower to inform him that they were there. "Asuma-sensei, can I go with you?" asked Naruto. Seeing no harm in it, he shrugged and motioned for Naruto to go with him. He gave his bag to Kiba, who said he'd drop the stuff of in his room.

'I heard from Outo-san there there was another demon vessel in this village,' Naruto thought,' maybe I can meet him.' Walking side by side, sensei and pupil made thei way to the Kazekage's tower. Before entering the tower, he noticed through his peripheral vision that there were several children his age and younger running away from a park behind the tower.

"Neh, sensei," said Naruto, tugging at the Jounin's vest," I'm gonna get something to eat, I'll meet back with everyone at the in," he lied. Asuma, sensing no harm and yet somewhat suspicious, nodded and continued towards the Kazekage. As soon as Asuma was out of sight, our favorite blonde back tracked and headed towards the park where the other kids had run away from. He sensed something odd emanating from that area and was curious as to see what it was. (A/N: it's kinda obvious what it is, isn't it?)

Rounding the corner, Naruto found a sandbox in the middle of the play ground. A boy, the same age as he, was standing in the middle where small dust devils seemed to swirl at his feet. He had a large gourd at his back and had hair that was as red as sunset. Naruto felt his trained face of neutrality slipping slightly into uneasiness, though he fought hard at trying not to show it. There was just something about the other boy that was familiar and yet deadly at the same time.

The said boy turned around, having sensed Naruto's presence," who are you?" he asked in a quiet and dark tone. Not wanting to be seen as week in front of someone he had just met he said," You first," somewhat arrogantly. The sand boy narrowed his eyes slightly at having been denied for the first time at what he wanted, but shrugged it off," Sabaku no Gaara," he said.

Naruto nodded," Morino Naruto." Gaara stared at him for a moment, not entirely sure what to do. Nobody had ever gone up to him willingly without being close to breaking into tears. And yet, there was this blonde boy, no older than himself, with an uninterested almost bored expression on his face. Unknown to him, that wasn't entirely the cross. 'Please don't kill me,' thought Naruto,' I'm only doing this because dad said so.' Ibiki had spoken of another demon vessel with unfinished seals when he had a mission to the Sand. He wanted Naruto to convince the other boy to coming to Konohagakure to have his seal fixed so that he wouldn't one day entirely lose himself.

Keeping his facial expression as neutral as possible, he moved forward with his plans. Taking a step forward towards Gaara he stopped after he noticed the sand beginning to swirl faster beneath the other boy's feet. "What do you want?" the red head asked dangerously, his tone of voice screaming 'I'm going to kill you.' Stiffening his back slightly he called upon the Kyuubi's chakra.

He had learned at around the age of eight how to siphon out chunks of the Kyuubi's chakra forcefully. Naruto hadn't exactly learned how to continuously keep the demon chakra flowing, but the small chunks were enough for power boosts. According to Ibiki, it would take something extremely traumatic for him to finally be able to communicate with the fox and ask for more chakra, but these burst of energy would do, for now.

Pushing Kyuubi's chakra towards the sand, the swirling immediately stopped and dispersed. Gaara's surprise could be seen from a mile a way, but his expression quickly became stoic once again. Naruto spoke," I want to help," he said with a hint of empathy in his voice," I heard that the seals containing your demon are unfinished and I want to help."

Gaara's eyes immediately turned into a full fledged glare. "You speak as if you know how I feel," he said coldly," you know noth-"

"I know as much as you," Naruto cut in, his voice taking an angry tone as he recalled what happened before he had been adopted," you ain't the only demon vessel here buddy." He lifted the hem of his shirt, pushing chakra towards his stomach area, his seal materialized itself to the red head. Gaara's eyes widened slightly. After the seal appeared. Naruto took a few steps towards Gaara and offered a piece of paper.

"The Chuunin exam will be happening in Konoha pretty soon, I know that you will be attending," he said," if you want us to fix your seal, look up the address on this paper and we might be able to work something out." Without waiting for Gaara to respond, he slipped the paper into the other boy's hand and began walked away. Though he distinctly heard a small 'Thank you' whispered behind him.

The next day, needless to say, all the genin were extremely pissed. After they found the "thieves" of the scroll, they were sad to notice that these thieves were simply seven year olds who had been passing in the Konoha village. Apparently the full story had ben, was that the nobleman that had sent them to retrieve this valuable scroll was nothing more was the recipe for his favorite dish of yakisoba noodles. The man was apparently only exaggerating and it pissed the genin to no end. The only upside to this was that they'd still receive full payment for their work.


	9. The Sealing

**Disclaimer: I dont own Naruto or any of the characters. Unless they're OC, but there probably won't be any.**

**Author's Note: I'm sorry for the late update. My house was recently robbed and and we lost a lot of moneya nd documents. Thank goodness they didn't steal my IPod. Anyway, i will admit that i rushed the last part of chapter 8, but ohwell. I might change it, i might not. WARNING: there might be more typos since i no longer have spell check,**

**Chapter 9: The Sealing**

Three days left to the Chuunin exam and the genin team of team eight were currently at Naruto's house eating barbeque that Ibiki had cooked up somewhere in their backyard. Naturally, they had invited Choji along or otherwise face the famous Akimichi temper after finding out they had cooked food and not invited him. They were all currently sitting at the low table in the dining area. Kiba and Shikamaru were currently in a teaching game of Go, as the genius attempted to teach the dog boy strategic maneuvers on a game board. While Chouji sat, watching the game, as he bit into the chunk of meat attached to a stick. Akamaru chewed on a leftover steak bone on Kiba's lap as Naruto and Ibiki arm wrestled on the floor with looks of intense concentration on their face. Needless to say, it was a pretty peaceful and relaxing afternoon in the Morino residence.

_Knock knock knock_

Slightly startled at the interruption, Naruto lost focus as his father slammed his fist down to the mat and declared himself the winner. Scowling slightly, the blonde walked to their front door. Peering through the door hole to see who their guest was, he was unsurprised to find a bush of red hair and green eyes staring back at the door with a look reminiscent to that of a certain Uchiha.

Flinging the door open, Naruto smirked at the other demon container who looked surprised at the sudden door flinging, though he quickly hid it once again. "Hey Gaara," said Naruto good naturedly," where are your teammates?" Looking over the red heads shoulder to see if he could find anybody with him. "My siblings are not coming here with me," he said monotonously," they think I've just disappeared as usual and that is all they shall know until this sealing process is finished. They are currently at a hotel in your village called the _Oasis_."

"I've heard of that place," said Kiba from over Naruto's shoulder," it's a pretty top class place. Really expensive to. How'd you ever afford it?" he asked, looking at Gaara sternly," and another thing, who are you?" Gaara narrowed his eyes dangerously at Kiba. Cutting in before any damage could be done," His name's Gaara, he's the Kazekage's third child so show some respect Kiba. He's…like me." Comprehension immediately dawned on Shikamaru and Kiba as Ibiki looked neutral. "He's here to get his…umm… 'problem' fixed." Attempting to sound as vague as possible since Chouji was still currently in the vicinity.

Waiting until Chouji went home about half an hour later, Ibiki and Naruto brought Gaara into the dojo while Kiba and Shikamaru waited in the kitchen and helped themselves to the kitchen. "Take of your shirt and reveal your seal," ordered Ibiki to Gaara. Lifting the light shirt off his shoulders, Gaara pushed some chakra into his navel. It was surprisingly similar to Naruto's, with all the similar seals in place. However, there was on major flaw.

"Where's the spiral?" asked Naruto, his brows furrowing beneath his bandana. Ibiki looked closely at the seal, understanding Gaara's mental problems with his demon due to his incomplete seal. The spiral was a major part of the seal, it was a focus point for the demons mental capacity and to suppress it into deepest part of the human psyche.

"Lay down into the middle of the floor and stay still," said Ibiki. Gaara nodded and the jounin began drawing the spiral onto the red heads navel and drawing several other seals around the boy into the floor. "Naruto," called Ibiki," this could take some time. Don't worry, nothing dangerous will happen since only one part of the seal is needed to complete. Go out and have fun with your friends." Naruto nodded and slid the door close behind him.

Waiting for a good two hours outside with his best friends, he decided to enter the dojo again to see how progress looked. Reaching for the sliding door, the door opened before his hand even reached. Ibiki stood before him, carrying an unconscious Gaara in his arms. Seeing Naruto open his mouth to speak, his dad cut in before a word was cut in," the kid hasn't slept in years Naruto. We'll let him use the guest bedroom until he wakes up." The blonde nodded in understanding.

"Who is that guy Naruto?" asked Kiba as Shikamaru popped a takoyaki into his mouth. "Hmm," said Naruto, looking up from his book _Crime and their Punishments._" His name's Gaara, he currently has the sand demon infused into his soul called Shukaku the raccoon. But, his seal was incomplete, so his mental stability wasn't exactly what you'd call top notch." Kibi nodded in understanding as he nicked the next takoyaki from Shika's fingers and popped it into his own mouth.

**Time/Scene Change**

Gaara's eyes squinched slightly as his eyes slowly rose to let in the setting sun's rays. Blinking slightly from the best sleep he'd ever had in his life, he woke to find himself in a room that obviously wasn't his own. 'Where the hell..' he cut his thought short as he realized two things. One, he could only hear his own voice in his head. And two, he remebered what had happend a few hours ago.

Removing the green covers off of himself, he slowly rose and walked towards the door to find the closest thing he had to a friend and the boy's father. Finding nobody at the top floor, he began to descend the stairs to find...

...three people all immersed in a game of Goldfish and a grown man eating a bowl of ramen while reading a book entitled _Crime and Possible Punishements_. "Got any threes?" asked a rather wolfish sort of boy. "Iie," replied the blonde, that Gaara noticed was the other demon possesed genin...like himself. The third boy had a pineapple shaped hair and looked as if his eyes were about to fall asleep. Naruto look up from their game and noticed Gaara as he entered the living room area.

Giving a small grin and nod in acknowledgement. "How are you feeling?" Naruto asked as his two best friends looked up from their game, a lollipop sticking out fomr Shikamaru's mouth and Akamaru peeking up from Kiba's lap, gaving a small bark. Unentirely sure of how to react to such a warm greeting, he shifted uncomfortably before replying," fine," with the tone of neutrality that only belonged to Gaara.

Gaara spent the last two days at the Morino house, his siblings apparently feared him too much to bother looking for him. They apparently hadn't heard of the repair job Gaara's seal had recently gone through. Kiba and Shikamaru would occasionally pop by to see how things were going; though Naruto was whome Gaara talked to the most with the feeling of kinship between them, both of them being demon vessles and all.

On the day of the exam, the red head left and gave a rare smile that bordered to a smirk towards Naruto, saying something along the lines of," I'm going to kick your ass in the exam," before disappearing in a swirl of sand. The demon's mind may be supressed, but it's pawers sure haven't since they've been incorporated into Gaara's system for much to long to simply disappear.

Team Asuma reached the front doors to Chuunin exam; Kiba holding a confident smirk, Shikamaru with a look of boredom and yet determination on his face, and Naruto, well...he was eating a cup of ramen. "YEAH!" yelled Kiba," We're going to totally kick ass!" Akamaru barked in agreement, while 'Mr. Lazy-Ninja' bopped him on the head for disturbing his train of thought.

Asuma was waitng outside the doors for them, "Yo," he waved," you three ready?"


	10. The Paper Test

**Disclaimer: I don't own naruto, now quit mocking me.**

_**Flashback: a year and a half ago**_

_People were naturally evil creatures. They enjoyed the pain and suffering at the expense of others. At least, that was true for a man named Morino Ibiki as he looked down at his son's scowling face. The term 'if looks could kill popped into his head as he met the glare that he had taught Naruto head on. He reponded be acting nochalant and even gave a big yawn to piss the boy off even more. "I don't wanna go to th academy," said an extremely irked, eleven year old Naruto. His father had just told him that the Hokage had thought it would be best if Naruto were to enter the academy for the last year, to get used to being around people his own age. Giving a huge say at the pointless conversation, Ibiki looked pointedly at Naruto._

_"Look musuko," said Ibiki, Naruto liked it when Ibik called him Musuko," it's not like I don't wanna hog you all to myself. In all honesty, I'd rather train with you myself and have you come to work with me occasionally, but this was the Hokage's orders. I can't really go against them." Naruto's bangs shodowed over his eyes, giving him an even more menacing look. "I still don't want to go," his voice bordering on yelling. "I don't like going out with people, kunoichi keep giving me weird looks and drooling, AND it means i won't get to see you as much any more." He said the last part a bit more quietly than the rest. The scarred Jounin blinked in understandment._

_He and Naruto hadn't been apart for more than six hours tops since the incident the blonde had gotten himself lost in the woods. Joining the academy, to Naruto, probably meant separation and abandonment. Plue, it probably meant that as soon as Naruto graduated, they'd have EVEN less time with each other. A small smile twitched at the edge of Ibiki's lip, he bent down and enveloped Naruto in an extremely tight hug. Pulling out slightly to look Naruto in the eye," you moron," he whispered," you can't be a kid forever, you knew that. I ain't goin' no where you dimwit. This just mean, you'll have more people you can spend your time with and I'll have more time to go and get drunk at bars._

_Closing his eyes and opening them again Naruto looked up at Ibiki,"Demo, outo-san, I don't wanna..." Cutting him off before he could finish that sentence, Ibiki said," How about this, as soon as you start school two weeks from now, I'll refuse all missions on weekends. It'll be our little time together until you hit puberty and get sick of your old man. Sound fair?" Frowning slightly, but knowing it was the best he was going to get, Naruto nodded. "Good," said the Jounin," so what do you say we head over to Ichiraku's Ramen stand and have a little contest? Loser does all the dishes for the next week." His eyes lighting up slightly, Naruto said, "you're on old man, I still hold the record of twenty bowls and you ain't about to beat it."_

Back to Present:

Ibiki gave a small sigh of content as he looked through a crystal ball that overlooked the Chuunin examination room. Naruto was currently surounded by a group of people from his class that had passed along with him. Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata, and Akimichi Chouji of team six. With Uchiha Sasuke Haruno Sakura, and Yamanaka Ino od team seven. His boy was growing up, a sure sign of his own ever increasing age. Looking back down to see the Inuzuka yell that he and his team were going to beat everyone in the room, he smirked as Shikamaru yanked on the dog lover's ear while Naruto bonked him on the head a few time. After seeing the sound team attack, he decided it was time to make his entrance. With a wave of chakra, he and a group of Chuunin appeared in a grand entrance of smoke bombs.

"There will be no fighting during the exam or you and your team will be disqualified you brats," he yelled, pointedly looking at the Sound team and sending of a wave of killing intent. Naruto simply raised his eyebrows in amusement while Shikamaru and Kiba 'attempted' to ignore the killing intent. He'd taught Naruto early on how to resist killing intent effects as they can obstruct a shinobi's abilities, it was distracting to the point of dangerous. 'Heh,' thought Ibiki with an amused smirk,'that's my boy.' Looking out towards the crowd," All right you brats, get ready for the first part of the Chuunin Exam," he yelled," get your asses in a chair away from your teammates and shift into high gear."

Grunting slightly, the genin took a seat with Naruto up front, giving his dad a bored look, Shikamaru took the seat behind Naruto, looking as though he was fighting lying down on the table, and Kiba was somewhere close to the middle on the opposite side of the room from them. Looking slightly disappointed at his son's unconcerned appearance, he addressed the rest of the genin" All right," he said," this is a written test, a ten point deduction method. Cheating will NOT be tolerated, if you're caught cheating, you and your teammates will immediately be failed without question." He said the last part with a glare that caused everyone to shiver slightly, ixnay Naruto and Gaara.

The papers were handed down each row by a Chuunin, an unidentified Genin spoke," why are there only nine questions, you said a ten point deduction?" Ibiki looked at the boy pointedly, causing his to freeze instantly," it is a ten point deduction, as for the tenth question, well...that's a surprise." Everyone held their breath, this man looked as if he wasn't the type you'd want to get a surprise from. Looking down at his paper, only one thought passes Naruto's mind,'holy shit, there is no way a genin, or even a chuunin, could pass this test.' Having peeked into the examination papers while his dad was at work, he'd told Kiba and Shikamaru ALL about the first test. Twitching the muscles on the back of his neck to produce morse code to Shikamaru so as not to make a sound, he twitched one word.'help,' hoping the pineapple head was looking, just as they had agreed.

This test may be beyond Kiba's and even Naruto's intellect, but definitely within range of Shikamaru's. 'Come on Akamaru,' thought Kiba to his dog,' you know what to do.' Akamaru growled in consent. Shikamaru in the meantime was using his shadow copying technique on Naruto, meaning whatever he wrote down, Naruto wrote down. 'Heh,' thought Shika smuggly,' like taking candy from Konohamaru.' Gaara looked up from his 'Third Eye of Shukaku' technique to see how Naruto was fairing,'hmph,' he thought,' lazy ass, can't even bother to do his own work.' He looked back down onto his paper. Finishing writing their papers, Shikamaru gave a large yawn and placed his head on the table after removing the jutsu, people might find it strange if they yawned at the excact same time.

"Times up!" yelled the bandana clad Jounin to the entire room, causing a large majority to jump in suprise. "It's time for the tenth question," his eyes glinted maliciously," it is your choice whether to take the last question or not because-" Naruto strtched his back and gave a huge yawn," get to the point already Oyaji-san," he said with a smirk only Ibiki noticed," we don't have all day." Glaring slightly at Naruto for having ruined the effect he was having on the scared shitless Genin, he explained the consequences. There was no point in attempting to scare Naruto, though he could scare the living daylight out of the boy, he'd have to try REALLY hard. And even then, the blonde would simply remain expressionless while sweating on the inside.

"I give up," said an anonymous Rain-genin, his two teammates frowning at him. "Me too.""I give up also.""So do we." One by one, the elder Morino weeded out the mush-spines from the rest of the genin with his intense glares of intimidation. Looking back over his shoulders, his eyes bugged at the scene before him, Naruto and his teammates were currently engrossed in a game of Old Maid as they waited for all the losers to get out. Kiba took a card from Shikamaru and yelled," Dammit!" Can you guess who just got the joker? Walking over and giving a good whack to the back of Naruto's head he yelled,"What The Hell Are You Doing!" "Itai!" yelped Naruto, scowling at Ibiki. "Nani? Otou-san? It's been like half an hour and nobody's said they'd be quitting in ten minutes, so just get on with it already."

Frowning slightly,' Hmph, he is way too used to my intimidation, and those two aren't exactly helping." Turning back towards the room he yelled," Everyone here passes!"

"WHAT!" After a brief explanation of the reasons behind the fifth question, Ibiki looked towards thw window, having sensed a very familiar chakra signature hurtling towards the window. "All right you maggots. My name is Mitarashi Anko and I'll be your next examiner for the second part of the tests. Follow me to the training ground immediately." Looking around, she nodded in satisfaction that Ibiki had weeded out a considerable amount of people out of the room.

"Mitarashi?" said Kiba amusedly," I thought it was Morino Anko now. Heh heh. Well Naruto, let's follow let's listen to your Kaa-chan and follow her." He sniggered mentally, remembering Ibiki's drunken mistake and annulement. Three pairs of eyes flashed belonging to a blonde, a female Jounin, and a pissed interogator. Kiba immediately found himself pinned to with several kunai to the wall. Shikamaru sweatdropped at the scene and began attempting to pull the dog-boy off the wall.

Read and review s'il vous plait.


	11. The Fatherly Worries

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Otherwise I'd be happy.**

**Hey, I realize my chapter are getting short, but I'm a senior in high school and college apps are looming closer. I am under complete stress and I'm totally pissed at my parents who aren't really helping the pressure. So yeah. Enjoy the chapter.**

**_Flashback: Day after the Lost in the woods incident_**

_It was a day after the incident with Naruto getting lost in the forest and breaking his fishing rod. Ibiki had simply laid Naruto down to bed early since the boy hadn't had much of an appetite._

_After bringing Naruto back into the house the boy had refused to let go of his neck and wouldn't let go. "Naruto, let go of my neck so I can get you ready for bed," Ibiki whispered into the adoptee's ear. His response was a tightening of the arms around his neck and Naruto burying his head into the crook of the Jounin's shoulder. Ibiki gave a small sigh._

_He'd wanted the boy to be more attached to him, but having the kid get lost in the woods at night in the rain was not his idea of getting his new son to cling to him. Changing them both as best as he could into their night clothes_ _with a blonde boy attached to his neck he prepared to go to bed. He lay down on top of his green comforters and lay on his side so that Naruto was face to chest with him._

_The Jounin had never felt more uncomfortable in his life and yet he had never felt more relaxed in his entire life. Looking down he noticed that Naruto had begun to shiver despite his overly large pajamas and Ibiki's body warmth and arms around him. He had to do something to calm the child down, but what?_

_Caught by sudden inspiration, he bagan to do what his own mother had done to him when she had been alive. Making small comforting circles into on top of Naruto back with his hand he began to whisper a song._

**_Fill in Harumonia song_**

_Looking back down after he finished the song, he noticed that Naruto had stopped shivering, but his uneven breathing signaled Ibiki that he was still very much awake. Shifting slightly so that his mouth was next to Naruto's ear, he tightened his grip and said, "Hey midget," he whispered, "remember what I said to you the first night you came here? That I would let nothing hurt you ever again. Do you remember that?" The blonde hair gave a small nod, tickling Ibiki's chin. "Well, I meant what I said. You'd best remember that 'cause as long as I'm around you're always gonna have somebody to cry for."_

_Looking at Naruto's face he noticed the child had fallen asleep and his grip loosened. Ibiki smirked, he was content to remain as they currently were._

_**End Flashback**_

Watching Naruto leave the door after Anko, towards the second exam, Ibiki couldn't help but feel a certain sense of nostalgia. Before he turned away he noticed that Naruto had turned his head slightly and gave a small wink towards his 'daddy.' The interrogator smirked in return before disappearing in a poof of smoke into the lounge where the Jounin instructors were currently waiting for the exam finals to meet their students.

Noticing the Rookie Nine genin's instructors he made a beeline for the seat next to his drinking buddy, Asuma. Noticing Ibiki's more than usual silice as the three other Jounins spoke he said, "What's up with the faraway look?" Asuma asked smirking, "you ain't getting' all sentimental over that boy of yours NOW are you?" Bopping Asuma over the head with a sake bottle from out of no where he said, "I ain't getting' sentimental. I ain't worried one bit. The brat can take care of himself." Though he said this a bit too defensively and quickly. Naruto's instructor knew better.

Kurenai and Kakashi had left as this seemed to be a personal matter. Slapping a hand on Ibiki's back the instructor spoke, "You're right. He WILL be fine, so suck up whatever's bothering you. You gettin' way to sentimental for an interrogator. Maybe you should retire."

Taking a swig of sake straight from the bottle he scowled, "I ain't getting' sentimental. It's just that…it's just that as a Chuunin, he'll be in more danger than he ever was and I'd promised him a long time ago that I'd always be there. Sigh I guess I just ain't used to the fact that the gaki's growin' up."

'Yep' thought Asuma,' definitely needs to retire.' No more words were exchanged between the two friends as they proceeded to get drunk off of more sake that seemed to pop out of no where.

**Change Scenes**

"Welcome," Anko shouted," to the Forest of Death. The name is property of Konoha and shall not be illegally reproduced outside this village, all rights reserved." Looking around at some of the scared little faces she continued with a sadistic smile, "You'll soon find out why it's called the forest of death, but I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise." She proceeded to explain the rules of this exam.

"Feh," snorted Kiba as he pulled his hood down," doesn't look all that great." A kunai quickly whizzed towards him, but was instantly caught by the handle by Naruto. Shikamaru gave a long sigh, 'We really need to work on his people skills,' he thought, 'especially with crazy people like this around.' He looked at Anko.

"Best keep you friend in line Naruto," Anko said glaring at Kiba, "lest I neuter him and end the Inuzuka line here and now." Naruto rolled his eyes and cast his gaze towards Kiba.

'What is it with people and wanting to neuter me?' thought the dog boy, 'can't they get a bit more creative than that?' Akamaru nodded in agreement, though he couldn't think of a scarier thought than being neutered.

Naruto proceeded to yank Kiba's ear towards the tents where Shikamaru had already gone ahead and gotten them a Heaven Scroll.

"Teams ready?" yelled Anko," HAJIME!" and the gates slammed open.

**R and R and all that good stuff. I took down the song because somebody told me it wasn't supposed to be there in a review and i don't really want this story deleted like another one i had. sorry.**


	12. The Forest

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but neither do you so there…**

**Author's note: hehehehe! I bet that you're all just anticipating a fight from Naruto aren't you. Hehehe. I'm such an evil author. But honest, I'm not doing this on purpose. RandR and I "might" just have a sparring match next chapter.**

**Chapter 12: The Forest**

Breaking out a bag of chips that he had gotten from Chouji before the beginning of the second exam, Naruto began crunching down as his two best friends looked at him in confusion. "Naruto," said Kiba, "what are you doing?" Looking incredulously at the bag of chips in the blonde's hands. Shikamaru snorted, "You seem awfully relaxed." Shrugging his shoulders, he continued to munch before turning back to his teammates. "We're going to meet Gaara somewhere in the forest. He says that he has something important to tell us," he said, adjusting the hitai-ate on his left arm.

Reaching behind him, he took out a pile of sand from his pocket and dropped it on the floor in front of Kiba and Akamaru. "Think you can track him Kiba?" Taking a pinch of sand and take a good sniff, the dog and his master nodded, "yeah, the scent is strong, as if the sand were his skin." Inwardly smirking, Naruto didn't bother saying that this particular sand had been the armor that surrounded Gaara's skin.

Bending down to the floor, Kiba began to sniff as Shikamaru looked at the sky. "From the angle of the sun, I'm gonna assume it's around 9:32 in the morning. I suggest that we move quickly. The sooner Gaara gives us his message the sooner we can get a scroll and run to the tower. From what I've heard, they don't have a large time of rest after the fifth and final day, so the sooner we get the, the longer we have time to recuperate and prepare for the final test." The other two nodded in understanding. It was pointless to argue with a two-hundred plus IQ.

Bending on all fours, Kiba and Akamaru shot through the foliage like a bullet with Shikamaru and Naruto striving to keep up from behind them. Needless to the popular belief of his fangirls, Naruto was not the best at everything. Kiba was physically stronger than him due to his family taijutsu and Shikamaru whoops his butt in Go and Shogi, though he does put up a fair fight. No, he's what you would consider a 'well-rounded' shinobi.

**Change Scene**

Gaara and his sibling sat beneath a particularly large tree after he had scared a Rain-nin team for their scroll. He closed his eyes and awaited the arrival of the other demon host. Temari and Kankuro looked at his strangely; Gaara wasn't acting Gaara-ish anymore. He still had that aura of danger about him, but this time they felt as if it wasn't constantly focused on them.

He was less belligerent and hadn't even killed anyone in the past few days. It was strange, but in a good way. Hearing a rustle of the leaves above them Temari grabbed her battle fan, but a glance from her little brother told her to stand down. Confused at the sudden halt she did as he said. Looking back up she saw three or four figures glide down in front of them, one of them a cute puppy.

A blonde boy, obviously the leader stood up and walked towards Gaara. The look of indifference on her brother's face transformed into a friendly smirk, though still kind of menacing. 'What the hell?' she thought as she looked at the bandana clad blonde that had brought upon the smile. 'Was he the one that fixed the seal?' From the way the two smacked each other's hands as if old friends, she would guess the answer was yes.

Resisting the urge to thank the cute blonde profusely she watched the interaction.

"Gaara," grinned Naruto, "you said you had something to tell us?" Temari and Kankuro stiffened as the looked at Gaara in panic. The red head nodded, "Yes, there will be an invasion from the Sound Country and Sunagakure has been brought into the fight with them somehow. I don't know what my father had been thinking."

"You're the Kazekage's son?" asked Kiba wide-eyed. He nodded. "Wow."

"Gaara," yelled Temari in panic," w-what are you doing? You just gave away our entire mission."

This time Kankuro dropped in a line as well, "Yeah. I know father hasn't been acting like himself, but we still have to follow his ord-"

"He is not our father," stated Gaara matter of factly, "I don't know how, but there's something different about the man sitting in the Kazekage's seat, and I intend to find out who. Besides," he turned towards his siblings, "I owe a debt to Naruto and his father for the finishing of my seal. So the point is, we will NOT attack Konoha, we WILL aid them when the time comes, and you two will NOT go against me. Understood?" The sand swirled around him in a menacing manner.

The two other sand-nins shivered slightly before giving a nod of consent. Turning back to Team 8 (A/N: is it team 8? I forgot. Oh well) he held up an Earth scroll, the exact one Naruto's team needed. "I acquired a second scroll for when you arrived, I thought it best that you get to the tower quickly to tell your Hokage of the situation." Shikamaru took the scroll and inspected that it was in fact the correct one before nodding and putting it in his pouch with the other.

With one large leap, both teams disappeared into the foliage. Jumping from tree branch to tree branch Naruto looked back to see that his two teammates were right behind his as Gaara and his team was just a few branches ahead of him.

Putting his hands together in a new mental justsu he'd learned from Ibiki, he commenced with the handseals. _'Inu, Saru, Tori, Saru, NEZUMI! _**Buraindo Mokushi no Jutsu.' (trans: Art of Blind Sight) **Earlier on in the second exam, Naruto had had Shikamaru and Kiba slip one person on every team on the exam a square piece of paper with the word 'boushi' or eye written on it..

The purpose of the jutsu was for tracking purposes. This way, if any other team were to near them by a hundred yards, a sudden increase in temperature for Naruto would warn him of what direction they were coming from, hence the name 'Blind Sight.'

"Naruto," snapping out of his inner monologue, he looked up to see who had called him. Gaara was looking back towards him. "I just wished to thank you once again for the help you and Morino-san did to help me fix my seal." Temari and Kankuro's eyes bugged out. Grinning at the red he replied, "Nice try, but you still owe me three weeks worth of lunch after this exam." Gaara turned back to face forward. 'Kuso,' he cursed inwardly.

Hearing a cough behind him, Shikamaru sped up, "I suggest that we speed up, Kiba says that people have begun fighting viciously from the smell of the blood in the air, and I this it best we get to the tower soon. Darkness will come swift in a forest like this." Though slightly creeped out at Shikamaru's look of focus for once, he nodded in understanding.

Approximately twenty-five point thirty-seven minutes later, according to Temari, the tower ahead of them began to come into view. 'That girl definitely needs to get a hobby,' thought Kiba as she informed them of their progress, 'who the hell is ever THAT exact at anything?' Glancing over at Shikamaru, 'Never mind. If this Temari chick likes smart guys, then Ino is gonna have her work cut out for her.'

Approaching the tower gates, Kiba and Kankuro pushed open the giant steel doors and all of them entered the building. Entering into a large empty room Kiba spoke, "Okay…now what?" "Now we open both scrolls at the same time," replied Shikamaru. Naruto and Temari nodded and both broke the seals on their set of scrolls. Glowing brightly, the two dropped both scrolls in surprise and stepped back. Gaara's sand surrounding his in case of attack.

"Yo," said two distinct voices from within a swirl of wind that had erupted. "Asuma-sensei!" exclaimed Shikamaru in surprise. The other person was Kakashi from Gaara's scroll. "Congratulations brats. You and the sand team has just made it into the tower in record time. You must be sooo proud." He sounded very sarcastic, as if he didn't expect anything less from them. Kakashi grinned and spoke, "Since it is only the first day and there are still four more days until the next exam, we've prepared rooms and food for you. Enjoy" And he poofed away.

Asuma turned to his team, "And Naruto, Ibiki says that if you become a Chuunin and are going to be leaving the village more often, he feels that it's time for you two to have 'The Talk.'" The blonde turned ghostly white, Kiba blanched, while Shikamaru simply rolled his eyes.


	13. The Practice

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I know, shocking isn't it?**

**Hey everyone, well, here's the next chapter. I really hope that you like it. Be glad I'm on winter vacation or I might not have even updated. HAHA!**

**Chapter 13: The Practice**

"…and that Naruto, is where babies come from," concluded Ibiki. Looking down at the blonde he noticed the normally nonchalant face was now beet red. "Was there a point to this embarrassing conversation?" he asked. They currently sat in Naruto's single room where he had spent the last two nights before the last part of the exam. After explaining the situation to Sandaime Hokage, Ibiki had whizzed him away for the 'bird and the bees' conversation.

"Well, I..uh..just," the scarred Jounin blanched. Naruto's eyes widened and turned red once more. "YOU THOUGHT IF I BECAME A CHUUNIN THAT I'D VISIT THOSE PERVERTED BROTHELS DIDN'T YOU!" he yelled. "WELL WHAT DID YOU EXPECT ME TO THINK? YOU JUST HIT PUBERTY AND CHUUNINS CAN LEAVE THE VILLAGE AND VISIT THOSE KINDS OF PLACES!"

"ERO-OUTO! Ewwwww….I can't believe you thought that. Besides," Naruto said smirking, "why would you fear ME doing something like that. I know a few Chuunins go there to relieve themselves at those places. But, you're too responsible for that, right?" Ibiki reddened as he recalled a few of his less hazardous 'missions' away from the village.

"Cough cough," he said, clearing his throat, "So are you ready for the last part of the exam? I told you it's a one on one combat. Remember, brains over brawn." Naruto inwardly smirked as Ibiki noticeably changed the subject, but decided to give him a break. "I think I am, Kiba's out with Akamaru training, and I think Shika's snoozing in his room. But, I haven't really done anything to prepare myself for the upcoming matches."

"Well let's get started then," exclaimed his father, grabbing Naruto by the scruff of his color, he teleported them to the arena that was to be used two days from now. "I already taught you how to do my taijutsu style, **Shindou no Mai (Impact Dance)**, but this will simply be a grappling match. Straight out punches and kicks with a few jutsus to mix it up. Deal?" "Deal."

Launching at high speeds, Naruto and Ibiki raced at each other in fast blurs, with Ibiki holding back so as not to kill Naruto on accident. Fists raised, Naruto backflipped, aiming his right foot for the Jounin's chin in the process, only to have it kick air as Ibiki jumped back to avoid the near miss. Both sets of hands met in the same series of seals.

'_Usagi, Ryu, Nezumi, Nezumi, Uma, O-hitsuji.' _"**Fuuton: Tama Bakuha no Jutsu! (Art of the Bullet Blast)**" both yelled simultaneously. A large blast of air, slightly opaque so that it was visible, burst from their mouths, similar to the Goukakyuu. Both bullets sped towards each other at ninety miles per hour only to collide half way and Ibiki's, being much larger, went straight through Naruto's and hurled the fox-boy to the opposite wall.

WHAM! Picking himself up from the Naruto-sized hole in the wall, he dashed towards Ibiki once more with a grin on his face. Pulling out three kunai into his left hand, he threw all three at non-vital points. 'That's it?' thought the Jounin, 'thought I taught him better than that. Oh well, he must be getting sloppy.' Bending his legs slightly, he flipped to the side to avoid the kunai. Sighing slightly at the simplicity of the move, his eyes immediately widened when the kunai turned in the air and nicked his cheek, shin, and left arm, causing three small cuts.

Landing on the floor, he watched in amazement as the kunai neatly flew back into Naruto's waiting hands. Upon closer inspection, he noticed the handles were bent at about a forty-five degree angle from the blade, making them react as a boomerang would. The reason he had not noticed this before was the Naruto's hands had been covering the handles.

Naruto grinned at his father. "Not getting slow in your old age now are you, Chichi (dad, less formal)?" Frowning slightly at the comment he replied, "No I am not," he said, his intimidating interrogator face revealing itself whenever he felt annoyed, "where did you get those things anyway?"

"Bought them," was the simple reply he received. 'So that's what he spent his birthday and Christmas money on last year. Must've cost a fortune. Gotta remember to get a set or myself later. I wonder what store he got it from. Maybe that weapon's specialist's store. I heard his daughter really knew her stuff when it came to sharp objects. What was her name again? SevenSeven? SixSix? TenTen?' Seeing Ibiki distracted, Naruto began to perform handseals once more, "**Katon: Nenshou Enjin no Jutsu (Art of the Burning Rings)." **Spitting out five rings that expanded, they quickly surrounded around Ibiki's torso, arms, and legs. Not touching him, but if he were to move, he would be severely burned.

Snapping out of his trance, Ibiki noticed the slight predicament he was in and felt very stupid. Nenshou Enjin no Jutus was mostly used for already incapacitated so they do not escape, not for battle uses. He must have been really spaced out if he hadn't noticed the slow moving rings surround his body. 'Kuso.'

Naruto reached under his bandana and pulled out a single senbon needle that had been hidden in his hair. The tip was colored green from whatever toxin it had been dipped into. Aiming precisely at a vein, Naruto spoke, "Forfeit or you know what happens." Ibiki sweated as he knew what the chemical would do, he was the one that had created it.

One pierce into his body and he'd constantly attempt to jump every adult man in sight as the chemicals would increase his own testosterone levels to a large percentage whenever there was a male in sight/scent, thoroughly embarrassing himself for the next twenty-four hours. He'd originally created it to torture Ebisu, the closet-pervert, he'd never realized that Naruto would find the documents for his ultimate **Seme Suiyaku, **or Seme-Potion. He shuddered at the thought.

Giving a sigh of defeat he said, "Fine, I give." Knowing full well that he could have won if he truly tried. Naruto was good, but he wasn't good enough to beat a Jounin in a serious fight. At least…not yet. Grinning slightly, Naruto placed the needle back under his bandana and released his fire from his 'burning' predicament. "Neh, Chichi," said Naruto, "are you going to be here for the final exam or do you have to work that day?"

"And miss you pound the living crap out of other genin?" asked Ibiki incredulously, "Never. By the way, your Uncle Idate says he'll be coming for the matches after the preliminary rounds. I told the administration to give me those days off or they're going to find out just how 'good' I am at doing ym job." **(A/N: Idate is Ibiki's younger brother in one of the filler episodes. Slightly older than Naruto.)**

"Awesome, got anything new to teach me?" "Nah. Too lazy to. Let's just go find your friends and see what they're up to." Leaving the arena, they headed towards Shikamaru's suite, When they entered the room, they found something truly apocalyptic, so inconceivable that in only meant that the world was coming to an end.

Shikamaru was training with his father in the middle of the room with the bed pushed to the side so as to create space for them. "**Ninpou: Kage Kusari no Jutsu (Art of the Shadow Chain)." **Shikamaru's hands gave off a slightly blue glow as he ran towards his father and pushed him to a shadowed wall.

Immediately, the shadows on the wall moved and chained Shikato to the wall as prisoner. "Wow…" Naruto stated. Jumping slightly from shock, Shikamaru turned to find Naruto staring at him. "It's not that big of a deal, it's supposed to utilize chakra in shadows and chain opponents to a shadow in the surrounding area. It's mainly used for escaping purposes since it utilizes minimal energy."

"Not that," said Naruto, waving his hand off-handedly," the fact that your training is what really got me." Shikamaru scowled as Shikato chuckled from the wall. 'Always knew I liked this kid,' he thought. "Has anybody seen Kiba anywhere?"

**Somewhere Outside:**

"HAHAHAHA!" laughed Kiba, "that's a good one Akamaru, and then what happened?"

"Bark Bark Yip Bark Growl" was the reply he received.

"Honto?" asked Kiba, "I would have never thought of that."

"Bark."

About two meters away were two Chuunins. "I always thought the Inuzuka were a little nuts, but this takes the cake." "Yeah. But at least they've all been house trained."

**Back Inside:**

"Dunno," said Naruto, "maybe with Akamaru somewhere training." Turning back towards Ibiki, "How about some ramen before you leave?"

"But you're not allowed to leave the tower before the exam even begins," said Shikamaru. Ibiki's fingers did a quick flash of his fingers and a kage bunshin of himself appeared. He then had it do a henge into Naruto. "Now he can," he said matter-of-factly, "You two care to join us?"

"Nah," said Shikaku, "Chouza, Inoichi, and I were planning on escaping our wives for a while and go drinking." "What about you Shika?" The shadow user looked thoughtful for a moment before shaking his head. "Nah, it's too troublesome. I'm gonna take a nap." And with that he began moving his bed back to the center of the room.

"Alright then." Ibiki placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder and the two vanished in a cloud of smoke.

**Ten Minutes Later:**

"ITADIKIMASU!"

As the two ate their food, Naruto suddenly looked thoughtful. Ibiki looked at his and slurped the noodles that were hanging from his mouth. "What's wrong musuko?" he asked worriedly.

"Is that really where babies come from?" the blonde asked naively.

Ibiki sweatdropped

**Author's Note: Hey, I know it's a small fight scene. But, remember that it was just practice and I only wanted to give you a small 'taste' of what Naruto could do.**

**Shindou no Mai (Impact Dance)**: **You'll be seeing this in the matches. I know you all want to know how this kind of taijutsu work. Don't worry, I already know how it's supposed to work, so it shouldn't take TOO long. **

**R&R please!**


	14. The Preliminaries I

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but i really wish I did.**

**Hey everyone, thanks for all the compliements. Sorry for taking so long, i kinda got hooked on winter vacation and then there were finals to study for. Yeah. anyway, read and review please.

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**Chapter 14: The Preliminaries 1**

It was the day of the final exam and all the contestants were ready.

A surprising amount of genin had actually passed the Forest of Death. Naruto looked around to see if he recognized anyone.

He noticed that all the genin in his graduating class had survived. Along with a sound team and another genin team who Naruto recognized as the genin who had graduated the year before themselves. I believe they called themselves Team Gai. And unsurprisingly, Gaara with his siblings.

But, something was most definitely off. Turning to face the Hokage and the Jounin with him, he turned his eyes over to Sasuke and noticed the dark haired boy was shifting uncomfortable.

He was paler than usual and seemed to lack energy. Plus, he seemed to constantly be rubbing something on the back of his shoulder as if it stung or was sore.

Narrowing his eyes slightly, he began twitching his hand in a rhythmic pattern. Hoping that Ibiki, who was in front of him would notice. He began using Morse code.

_Chichi, something's wrong with Sasuke (stop) Should he be allowed to continue with the exam?(stop)_

Luckily for him, Ibiki had noticed immediately and began tapping his finger on his thigh.. _We already know (stop) After the preliminary matches are over, Kakashi will take care of him (stop) It seems his team had run into a little trouble in the forest (stop)_

Naruto nodded his head to show that he understood. Turning back to the Hokage, he listened for further instruction.

"Seeing as more people have passed the second examination than usual, we will be holding preliminary matches before we hold the tournament that is open to the public."

Iruka stepped up after the Hokage had finished. "Seeing as some of the teams had arrived last minute," he said, glancing at Team 7 and the Sound-nins, "we will allow a ten minute rest period of recuperation for all the teams that had arrived this day. In the meantime, please head to the balcony and we will announce the matches when it is time."

As they walked up the stairs, Kiba tapped Naruto on the shoulder as Chouji caught up to Shikamaru and began talking about his forest experience.

"Neh, Naruto," whispered Kiba, "teammates don't usually get put against each other during these matches do they?"

"I don't think so," replied Naruto, as he stared at Sasuke's back, "they don't want awkward situations to be brought into teams if they were all to lose. The only time we would have to fight against each other is if there were no other opponents to choose from."

"I see," Kiba said, " team fights would probably take much too long anyway. Seeing as they know each other's tactics and techniques."

"That could be another reason." Naruto narrowed his eyes as he caught sight of a black mark on the back of Sasuke's neck. It looked like a tattoo of some sort.

Kurenai had called Chouji back for a team meeting and waved goodbye to Shikamaru. The lazy genius looked at Naruto and noticed the concentrated look on his face.

"What's wrong?" he asked, his eyebrows furrowing slightly.

Snapping his attention off of the tattoo, he shook his head vigorously. "Nothing. It's nothing," he said unconvincingly. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a deck of cards. "Big Two anyone?"

For the next ten minutes, the three were immersed in a game that seemed as if nobody was winning.

* * *

Hayate walked down to the middle of the arena. "We will now begin the preliminary matches (cough). Watch the screen and wait for your names to appear." 

Names began flashing on the screen and began slowing down to…

"First match (cough), Uchiha Sasuke versus Akado Yoroi."

"Yay! Go Sasuke-kun!" screeched Sakura as she watched the Uchiha walk down the stairs, tense with excitement. Everyone stuffed their fingers into their ears to muffle the sound.

Except Ino, who had scooted closer to Shikamaru who was still as oblivious to the blonde's advances as ever.

Shikaku, Shikamaru's father, was up in the stands and sweatdropped at the ignorant Shikamaru who had his fingers in his ears.

Meanwhile, Naruto watched as Yoroi unleashed a Kekkei Genkai that began leeching of Sasuke's chakra. Who currently seems to be unable to use ninjutsu or his Sharingan eye.

Needless to say, it was fascinating to watch as Sasuke launched Yoroi into the air and did a combination taijutsu technique which he had dubbed Shishi Rendan.

"Winner, Uchiha Sasuke," announced Hayate.

Naruto glanced over at Rock Lee to see his crestfallen expression at the sight of the move he had worked hard to accomplish to be shown to him by someone who held no appreciation to the hard work that should have gone with it.

Naruto sighed and looked at the panting Uchiha, that was led away by Kakashi, disapprovingly. 'Your Sharingan is indeed impressive Sasuke,' thought Naruto, 'but the way you use it to swindle your fellow shinobi out of the techniques they worked hard for rather than use it to fight enemies is disgusting beyond words.'

As an afterthought, he added, 'someday, it shall be your downfall.'

Glancing back into the field, he noticed Hayate and retuned to the center of the arena. "The next match shall now be decided."

The screen above the Hokage's head began flashing through several names with the names of Sasuke and Yoroi missing.

Sakura, Chouji, Hinata, Gaara, Tenten, Rin, Shikamaru…Zaku!

Kiba, Kankuro, Shino, Temari, Lee, Dosu, Sakura…Naruto!

"Second match shall be between Zaku Abumi and Morino Naruto," yelled Hayate, "will both contestants please come to the center of the stage."

Ibiki leaned over the railing at the Hokage's balcony farther. Asuma smirked, "Keep leaning forward and you'll fall right into the middle of his match." The interrogator scowled and twitched slightly, but consented to the statement and resumed normal standing position.

Sandaime inwardly smiled, ' I knew it was a good idea to have Naruto go with him,' he thought to himself. He then glanced back down into the stands.

Naruto was looking coolly at Zaku, who seemed to be rubbing his arm as if it ached. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that it was broken. 'Hmmm..' thought Naruto, 'must've happened in the Forest of Death. This could be advantageous to me.'

Noticing Naruto quick glance at his arm, Zaku spoke. "Don't think that just because my arm is broken, it'll be easier for you. I wanted to get my revenge on the Uchiha, but you'll have to do."

Naruto quirked an eyebrow. 'Sasuke did that?'

Hayate stepped back slightly and raised his arms into the air quickly.

"Hajime!" he yelled.

Before Naruto had a chance to jump back to create distance, Zaku had dashed forward to close the gap between them.

Raising the arm that wasn't broken he yelled, "Zankuuha! Decapitating Air Waves!"

A rush of air, similar to Naruto's Tama Bakuha no Jutsu came rushing towards him, but larger. Having no time to jump out of the way, all the bandana clad boy could do was throw his arms over his frontal area to defend himself.

He was thrown back to the far wall, where he left a slight indentation into the concrete. Naruto fell to the ground, but immediately began to pick himself up. Showing none of the ache or pain he was currently feeling on his face. Rather, he settled for a small grunt of discomfort.

Doing a quick mental calculation he thought, 'Judging that he had to move forward for the technique, it must a close range attack.' Glancing at where he had been and where Zaku was currently standing, 'I'd say about five meters is it's maximum distance, any farther and it would dissipate.'

Choosing to remain at a middle range distance. Naruto withdrew something from his back pouch and threw them to the ground. Smoke bombs immediately exploded and surrounded Naruto half of the field.

Completely obscuring him from view.

"That won't work on me!" yelled Zaku into the smoke. He didn't need to move closer in order to dissipate smoke. Rasing his arm once again he announced, "Zankuuha!"

The smoke blew away like fog against a windy breeze.

Moving closer in order to attack, he found…nothing.

"Where he go?" asked Kiba. Sniffing the air slightly to see if he could get a read on Naruto's location.

Shikamaru's eyes narrowed as he focused on a spot behind Zaku's feet.

Slowly, a blonde figure began to rise through the ground behind the sound Genin quietly. 'Genjutsu,' thought Kurenai, 'similar to my Hazy Field technique.'

Giving a quick spin kick to Zaku's head. The sound-nin was caught off guard as he suddenly found himself flying across the room. "Aaaarrrggghhh!"

Naruto suddenly appeared before him while he was still flying through the air.

Not one to be caught off guard twice, Zaku raised his good fist and aimed a punch for Naruto's left shoulder. Needless to say, has rather surprised that the hit had connected.

What surpsied him more, however, was when Naruto went along with the direction of the punch, spin a complete three-hundred and sixty degrees and back hand him at double the strength across the back of his neck

'What the fu-' Zaku never finished his thought..

Flickering once again in front of Zaku's projectile direction. Naruto allowed Zaku to collide with his forehead upon impact.

But, rather than be sent to the hospital with the broken nose. He used the momentum of the crash to do an aerial backflip and slam his knees into Zaku's stomach, sending him into the air. "Ghaaaa!"

"Sensei," Lee said, his impressive eyebrows furrowing questioningly, "what kind of fighting style is this Naruto person using?"

Gai looked down with an amused expression on his face. "**Shindou no Mai (Impact Dance). **It is a most devastating taijutsu style, mainly used by the Morino family."

"How is it devastating?" asked Tenten.

"It is a completely offensive technique with no defenses whatsoever."

"How can that be?" asked Lee, his eyes widening in astonishment. A majority of the genin were now listening.

"The user allows himself to be hit, but rather than allow the pain to take over, they would reinforce the impacted area with chakra," Gai continued, "they would then go along the direction of the impact and use the blow's momentum to spin and hit their opponent at twice the power. Therefore, the more they are hit on a continous basis, the stronger the attack. Doubling each time."

"But, wouldn't that mean they have to move extremely fast so that the opponent doesn't have time to react?" asked Lee.

"That's exactly what he's doing." Gai looked back down into the field to see Naruto flicker in front of a very bruised Zaku.

'Gaahhh! I've had enough of this!' Pulsing all of his remaining chakra into his working arm he yelled, "Zankyokukuuha, Extreme Decapitating Air Waves."

Unfortunately, while he was sucking air into the hole in his palm, Naruto took this moment to act.

Taking a kunai from his pouch, he flung it at the open hole and it embedded itself to the hilt into Zaku's arm.

And without anywhere for the air to go, his last arm exploded into pieces of flesh that made most of the female genin turn green if not faint from disgust.

The sound genin screamed with agony as he felt his bones, skin, and muscle be destroyed. As his stub of an arm bled profusely, he quickly went into shock from blood loss and fainted.

The medics quickly rushed him to the infirmary.

"Winner! Morino Naruto!" yelled Hayate.


	15. The Preliminaries II

**Disclaimer: Here's Lee for the disclaimer**

**Lee: WOLVESM0ON-SAMA DOES NOT OWN NARUTO! IF HE DID THEN HE WOULDN'T HAVE TO LOOK FOR COLLEGE GRANTS 'CAUSE HE'D BE RICH!**

**Wolvesm0on: thank you Lee!**

**Lee: HE WOULDN'T HAVE TO BEG FOR ANY POSSIBLE SCHOLARSHIP TO FILL HIS EMPTY WALLET! HIS BURNING PASSION OFF YOUTH IS QUICKLY FADIN-**

**Wolvesm0on: I SAID THAT'S ENOUGH. Yeesh, that's the last time I'm ever gonna invite a character for the disclaimer.**

* * *

**Chapter 15: The Preliminaries II**

Making his may up to the balcony once more. Naruto was greeted by an overly excited Kiba. Taking his hood off, the dog boy began jumping up and down ecstatically.

"That was AWESOME!" he yelled, " those were totally awesome techniques. Shindo no Mai? What the hell was up with that, dude? It was wicked awesome. Think you could teach me? And what about the genjutsu of coming out of the floor? Know any others? Blah blah blah blah blah bla….."

Naruto pictured a pair of wind-up chattering teeth constantly going.

Cutting into the speech, Naruto spoke. "Okay, first, that was the only genjutsu technique I've learned so for that doesn't involve manipulating the mid. Second, no I can't teach you because it's only for families. And third…get a breath mint; I think you're getting halitosis." Handing him a pack of winter fresh.

Glancing up at the Hokage's box seat, he saw Ibiki look at him and the small twitch on his lip proved that he was attempting not to smirk. Naruto smiled slightly before moving towards Shikamaru who was attempting to fend of an annoyingly persistent Ino.

"Oh Shika-chan," she cooed, "I just know that you'll do great in the exam. You'll probably be the first to be accepted as a Chuunin. You know, according to your mother, when I bumped into her at the open market where she always eats, you like eating takoyaki with hot sauce. How about a fry you up a couple and-"

'Shikamaru slouched and glanced up at the ceiling. 'Please. Please, if there is someone up there. Just kill me now!"

"NEXT MATCH! Nara Shikamaru versus Tsuchi Kin !"

Glancing up in surprise at his answered prayers, he immediately pried the vice grip Ino had on his arm and ran downstairs with surprising speed.

"GO SHIKA-KUN!"

Landing into the arena, he glanced up to see a female sound-nin with black hair, looking at him with an expression of disgust. "This loser is my opponent?" she sneered, "I've seen chopsticks with more definitions than those twigs he uses for arms."

Shikamaru's eyebrow twitched slightly while Shikaku, somewhere in the stands, gave a small smirk. 'I told he him should have practiced taijutsu more.'

"Yeah, well I've scene pigs with smaller noses than yours, but you ain't seeing me complain about it, now am I!" he retorted. Hanging around Kiba was having extremely adverse effects on lazy genius's patience.

Kin immediately turned red and turned towards the referee for the beginning signal.

"HAJIME!"

Reaching into her pouch, she pulled out three kunai. "I'm gonna make you pay for that pig comment, ya porcupine head," she yelled as she chucked all three at Shikamaru.

Choosing to ignore the porcupine comment, he quickly ran to avoid all three projectiles only to be met with an oncoming Rin who had donned brass knuckles with spikes.

"C'mere little boy!" she yelled manically, "I just wanna give ya a 'love' tap!"

Ino fumed slightly at the love tap comment and began yelling profanities at the sound girl that would have made a sailor blush.

Shikamaru continued to avoid her projectiles of kunai, shurinken and senbon needles. He didn't have enough time to notice that she had taken out three needles with bells attached to their ends.

He was instantly hit with a wave of migraine as he turned and found three needles stuck to the wall with their bells ringing in an annoyingly high pitch. His eyes widened slightly as he turned back to Kin, only to find that his vision was now impaired and he was now seeing several of her.

'Genjutsu,' he thought, 'the sound of the bells must attack the section of the brain in charge of vision through the ears. I gotta escape somewhere with silence.'

Putting his hands together into the Academy's most basic seals he said, "Bunshin no Jutsu." Instantly, five other Shikamaru's appeared around him and charged towards Kin in a tight group.

'Bunshin?' Kin thought. "I won't be fooled by such remedial tricks porcupine! I can tell which is the real one because illusions make no sound. I can simply walk through them straight to you."

'I hope so.' He thought.

As the five illusions approached her, Kin smirked and walked straight through them. Losing her sight of Shikamaru for a split second as she walked through the genjutsu's illusion.

But that split second was as he needed.

Emerging from the group of illusions, she immediately lost her frown as the illusions she'd just walked through faded away. The real Shikamaru was gone.

Bunshins may be the weakest of all clones, but they made great distractions. He didn't need them to be solid, he simply needed Kin's vision to be away from him so he could execute his plan.

"Where'd he go?" asked Kiba to Asuma, he took a big sniff of the air, "I've lost all scent of him." Naruto looked down in confusion, he'd lost track of Shikamaru as well as everyone's attention was between the five Shikamaru clones and the sound girl.

The only people who weren't confused were two Hyuugas who'd turned on their Byakugans for a better look as the match.

"WHERE'S SHIKA-KUN!" yelled Ino. Somewhere in the stands, Inoshi was covering his face from the embarrassing display of his daughter. Chouza patted his friends back. 'She must get it from her mother's side of the family.'

Meanwhile, Kin was looking around herself and listening intently for any sign of Shikamaru. 'Nothing,' she thought, getting nervous slightly, 'it's like he disappeared into thin air.'

A voice out of no where immediately announced, **" Ninpou: ****Taishoku no Jutsu (Art of Fading)." **

**Shikamaru's form slowly rose up from Kin's shadow behind her and began doing quick handseals before she turned. '**_O-hitsuji, hebi, ryu, inu, HEBI!'_

. "**Ninpou: Kage Kusari no Jutsu (Art of the Shadow Chain)," **he yelled. His hands immediately gave of the faint blue glow that Naruto had seen before when he saw Shikamaru training with his father in their room.

Kin panicked and turned quickly in an attempt to block whatever was coming. But, it was too late as he grabbed hold of both her shoulders and pushed her into the ground where Kin's own shadow rose off the ground and bound her to the floor.

Acting surprisingly quickly for someone as lazy as he was, he took four kunai and pinned her arms and legs to the ground as the Shadow Chains were only a temporary technique.

Taking a fifth kunai, he pressed it against her throat. "Give up, pig snout?" he asked.

From the stands, Ino was screaming her head off, as Shikamaru was currently lying on top of the Sound-nin to press the kunai against her neck.

Kin made an attempt to bite his hand off, but Shikamaru would simply move it out of the way.

Seeing that the sound girl wasn't going to give in, Shikamaru turned to the referee and said, "She's not going to give up. You must call it or this match is not going to end."

Hayate nodded and raised his arms. "WINNER! NARA SHIKAMARU!"

There was a large round of applause that erupted from the balcony.

"Next match! Aburame Shino versus Haruno Sakura!"

Shikamaru was greeted by his friends and an over active Ino who became latched to his back.

"Woah, Shikamaru!" yelled Kiba, bouncing on his feet, "that was awesome! When did you learn the Taishoku? Got any more tricks up your sleeves?"

"Troublesome. One: Thank you. Two: I learned it from my father two days ago. And Three: Yes I do," he replied. The lazy genius quickly unlatched the octopus in the shape of a blonde girl and walked towards the seats.

Naruto simply smiled at him and gave him a pat on the back. "Go ahead and rest," he said, "you deserve it. This time no one's gonna bother you about being lazy."

"I'll take you up on that offer," Shikamaru replied, as he yawned. He didn't have a large chakra supply, so that match totally drained him.

Ploppin on the cushioned chair, he quickly fell asleep.

"AAAAIIIIEEEEE! I HATE BUGS!" came a scream from the arena down below.

All everybody saw was a flash of pink hair that ran up the stairs and heading straight towards the restroom.

Looking back down, everyone saw Shino looking slightly affronted and a very confused referee.

"Uh…I guess this means the winner is Aburame Shino on grounds that his opponents has literally left the building.


	16. The Preliminaries III

**Disclaimer: Hey everybody, I'd just like to say that I don't- ****  
****Lee: KONNICHIWA MINNA-SAN! WOLVESM0ON-SAMA DOESN'T OWN NARUTO- ****  
****wolvesm0on: I THOUGHT I GOT RID OF YOU! ****  
****Lee: -BECAUSE HE IS A POOR MAN WITH SO LITTLE TALENT HE HAS TO WRITE FANFICS! ****  
****wolvesm0on: GET BACK IN THE REGULAR PLOTLINE OR I'LL KILL YOU OFF IN THE NEXT CHAPTER! **

* * *

**Chapter 16: The Preliminaries III**

Everyone stared stupidly at the swinging doors that Sakura had recently left through. Shino began slowly approaching the top of the stairs as he began to pet one of his bugs, telling it that the mean pink-haired girl won't say nasty things about them anymore. It was a pretty creepy sight, as he walked into a dark corner and continued comforting his bugs.

Shaking his head, Hayate coughed loudly to get everyone's attention. "We will now determine the next match," he said, gesturing towards the scoreboard. Random names quickly began shuffling through, sans the people that have already fought. They all watched for the next pair, hoping that it wouldn't be an embarassment like the last one.

Turning back to the crowd. "Next match: Inuzuka Kiba versus Karikomu TenTen. Will the two please step down to the stadium."  
"Yahoo! IT'S MY TURN! MAN, THAT TOOK FOREVER!" Kiba yelled as he skipped down the stairs. Tenten following behind him, muttering 'baka' under her breath.

"Why is he always so impatient?" Shikamaru asked, looking slightly annoyed, having been woken up twice by Sakura's scream and Kiba's yell.  
"I think it's because dogs age seven times as fast," Naruto stated, looking at the ceiling as though pondering, "so to him, it's almost been an entire month since the first exam started." Shikamaru raised an eyebrow and the strange, yet somehow comprehensible, logic, but said nothing.

Kiba looked down at his dog. "Ready Akamaru?" He received a bark in reply.

Looking back up at his opponent. 'Doesn't look like much,' he though, 'but then again, neither does Shikamaru and yet he still won.' Taking a deep breath through his nostrils, he attempted to pick up more information about his opponent.

'Wow...' thought Asuma, 'he actually looks serious.'

'Hmm...I smell metal on her. Doesn't smell like the regular steel we use for kunai either, may be much harder. I think I hear the rustling of paper in her pouch. Explosive tags? No, it sound more solid, possible tightly packed paper. Scrolls? Can she summon stuff? Maybe they're weapon scrolls.'

Opening his mouth, he sounded completely different from the analytical voice his mind had carried a moment ago. "Hey! You're not gonna run away like Haruno did, are you little girl?" he said with a boyish grin, "I mean it's alright if you wanna back out not. If you do, I'll take you out someplce nice where you won't hurt your finger nails."

Naruto and Shikamaru sweatdropped. 'He's asking for a date during his match?' they thought simultaneously.

Kiba was quickly answered with an uncomfortably precise sharpened kunai aimed for his manly parts. He barely dodged in time as it embedded itself to the hilt in the wall behind him, it did however tear a small hole on the thigh of his pants. 'Dang...' he thought,' she could have just said no. Hmmm...a lot of attention seems to be focusing on my crotch these days, and not in a good way.'

Looking at both warriors, Hayate began the match. "HAJIME!"

Both immediately jumped back from each other to opposite ends of the field. Akamaru clinging tightly to the top of Kiba's hood so as not to fall off.

Grinning in the way as only the top female genin shinobi in Konoha, Tenten took out three kunai and flung all three with deadly precision. Dodging the first kunai, which still knicked his left cheek, Kiba used his surprisingly hard claws to block the two in the air. Quickly jumping into the air, he chucked a soldier pill at Akamaru, whose fur immediately turned red, andhis hands fell into typical Inuzuka handseals.

Kiba crouched low to the floor, looking more animal like than usually, and an Akamaru-turned-Kiba landed on his master's back. "Juujin Bunshin no Jutsu!" (Art of the Beast-Clone). The kunoichi's eyes widened as both Kiba's circled her like a pair of hungry wolves.

She scoffed and reached back into her pouch, "A minor set back," she said as she reached in her pouch. Attempting to stop her before she continued with what she had planned, Kiba signaled to his dog and jumped into the air. "Gatsuuga!" (Dual Piercing Fang) he yelled. Spinning like a pair of twin tornados, both canines spun towards her in what they thought was going to be a one hit win.

Naruto leaned forward to see if Kiba had been successful. He highly doubted it, however, Tenten was a year older than they are with more experience and that hadn't even bee Kiba's strongest attack. 'Don't underestimate her, Kiba,' Naruto thought,' she's pretty strong for a genin kunoichi and I doubt she's a fangirl who's easily distracted by a pretty face.'

Looking down, he saw that dog-face had not been successful.

Tenten had jumped into the air close to impact, causing both Kiba's to collide with one another and lose their spinning momentum. Taking advantage of his disorientation, she hopped on top of one of the Kiba's backs and wrapped a fine wire around his throat. Realizing that she held Akamaru, because his pants did not have the hole she had caused earlier, she hit several pressure points on his throat and chest. This stopped the flow of chakra from the soldier pill, causing the dog to revert back to his canine form unconscious.

'Looks like the playing field is one even ground again,' Tenten thought as she allowed Kiba to remove the dog from the middle of battle quickly.

Keeping his senses on her, he placed his dog in the corner of the room 'You'll be alright buddy,' he thought,' we'll get Nee-san to heal you up later.' Recognizing the pressure points he knew Akamaru was simply suffering from a sudden bought of fatigue and could no longer fight. But, what was he going to do? He's never been in a battle without his dog companion before.

"This is bad," said Shikamaru.

Momentarily distracted by the match Ino asked, "Why? Since Akamaru's out doesn't that make it an even playing field for Tenten?"

"Yes, but since Kiba has been trained to cooperate with canines, he's at a disadvantage since he doesn't know how to fight without a companion. It's the reason why Inuzuka are such good team players generally. However, they begin to learn individual battle after becoming genin and he hasn't been one long enough to know much."

"Oh," she said, grinning slightly she wrapped her arms around Shikamaru's neck from behind,"Shika-kun...you're so smart. Please teach me...more." She batted her eyes in what she probably thought was a seductive manner. Sighing slightly, he escaped her grasp on his neck and sat in the corner so she can't come up from behind him.

Back in the arena, Tenten donned a pair of what seemed to be thick leather gloves. She reached into her pouch and took out a scroll, applying blood to it, she threw it into the air where it exploded into smoke to reveal fifteen, maybe twenty, small boomerangs which she caught all easily. Upon closer inspection, Kiba noticed that each boomerang's edges were razor sharp and the reason she had donned the gloves was so that she would not hurt herself.

'Damn,' he cursed as he sweated slightly,' how the hell am I going to dodge all of those? I heard this girl can hit a mark ten out of ten times.' Kiba instantly began running as he noticed Tenten begin chucking the boomerangs, each with strings attached to its center so she could manipulate them like a pupeteer.

"Ready to become confetti dog-boy?" she yelled across. "Ninpou: Hisan Yaiba no Jutsu!" (Art of the Flying Blade)

"Ahhh!" yelled Kiba, as he would dodge one and would be closely cut by another. Noticing a boomerang aimed for his feet behind him and another aimed for his head in front of him, Kiba quickly did a back flip, dodging both and the one on the bottom just barely missed his feet leaving the ground and the one aimed for his head slicing a piece of fur from his hood as he tilted his head back to avoid decapitation.

'This isn't good,' thought the canine,' i can't block those with Gatsuuga. For one, it takes to much energy to continuously do it and those strings and blades seems to be enhanced by her chakra so I can't cut through them.' Throwing off his jacket in mid jump to avoid another boomerang, he had decided that it had become a hindrance in his movement, leaving him only in the black chain mesh he wore underneath.

"I wonder if he plans on using his body techniques yet" stated Chouji.

"Body techniqes, what are you talking about?" asked Shikamaru, slightly peeved that he didn't know about this.

Looking slightly happy that he'd finally be able to explain things to Shikamaru instead of the other way around, he began to speak. "The Inuzuka and Akimichi are distantly related clans in the sense that we both use techniques that manipulate our physical attributes. While the Akimichi had focused more on physical abilities that are already attributed to humans, the Inuzuka had decided to aim for a more animalistic approach. Like how the Uchiha had branched of from the Hyuuga."

Sasuke scowled at the 'branched off' comment that he had overheard.

"So Kiba can change his body too?" asked Naruto, looking down into the field as he watched his friend receive a particularly nasty gash on his right thigh. Tenten all the while attempting to trap the dog into a corner and order him to forfeit.

"Yeah, but I'm not sure if he knows how to yet. While we Akimichi train in our bodies at birth, the Inuzuka have to learn to cooperate with their dogs first before they learn how to do this on their own." Everyone stared at Chouji as he explained everything while eating chips in between. It was pretty disgusting as bits of potato occasional fell out. Yuck!

Akimichi looked back down into the stage, "Oops, I may have spoken too soon."

Placing his hands in seals that seemed unfamiliar to him, as he did them rather slowly for a shinobi, his hands began to move. Ryu, Hebi, Inu, Ou-hitsuji, Saru, Inu, Uma, INU! "Ninpou: Mikon Ookami no Jutsu!" (Art of the Wild Wolf)

Without his jacket, the changes were much more visible. They watched as chakra flowed through Kiba's body, who seemed to be shaking slightly. His clows had elongated and thicked to two inches, black. A tail sprouted from the lower portion of his spine with fur that gleamed like metal. Said fur was also growing on his arms, but his skin still visible underneath. Body mass nearly doubling in size due to his sudden increase in muscle, his feat burst from the sandals. His hair grew shaggy and his eyes grew yellow. He was indeed...a Wild Wolf.

Crouching down on all fours, he stared at Tenten, who kept a calm and collected look on her face. Grinning slightly, he took in a large breath of air, his chest reverberating, and spoke that was more a deep growl than human. "I can smell your fear."

He howled loudly, causing Tenten to cover her ears from the deafening sound, thus losing her concentration. Taking his opprotunity, Kiba jumped into the and began using his hands, feet, and even new tail to grab the boomerangs from the air and fling them at another. The boomerangs would collide and shatter each other upon impact.

Realizing she had lost her edge, literally, Tenten quickly rumaged into her pouc, searching for two specific scrolls. But, before she had grasped the second one, Kiba had pinned both her hands above her head to the wall and used one of his legs to pin her own.

She gasped,'I didn't even see his move. Not as fast as Lee, but fast enough.' Seeing just how close his face was to her own, she blushed slightly at the close proximity. If this wasn't a match people could seriously take this the wrong way.

Smelling the blood rush rush to her face, Kiba grinned and leaned into her ear. "Fofeit, or I'll give you a hickey with my fangs so bad that you'll bleed to death," he whispered, brushing his canines against her jugular vein.

Turning beet red, she turned her head towards Hayate, "I f-forfeit."

"Winner! Inuzuka Kiba!"

Releasing his grip on her, Kiba immediately jumped to the center of the arena and began dancing like a maniac singing, "I WON! I WON! I WON! I-" He cut off as his chakra adrenaline rush technique wore of and he reverted to his original form. Taking one wobbly step, he fell backwards and feel unconscious upon impact due to his lack of energy.

**RandR**


End file.
